Detroit, Mich. – Junior Tae Blackshear and senior Bryson Dawkins combined for 42 points and nearly led the Youngstown State men's basketball team to a 15-point second-half comeback, but the Penguins suffered a 76-70 setback to Detroit Mercy on Sunday afternoon at Calihan Hall.

Youngstown State falls to 13-14 overall and 6-10 in the Horizon League while the Titans improve to 12-13 overall and 9-7 in league play.

Blackshear scored a career-high 22 points and tied a school single-game record going 9-for-9 from the field for a 1.000 shooting percentage. He is the first player to make all his field-goal attempts (min. 7) since TeJay Anderson against Southern Utah on Jan. 13, 2001.

Dawkins scored 16 of his 20 points and went 6-for-9 from the field in the second half.

The Penguins trailed 61-46 with just 7:21 left in the game and were down 14, 66-52, at the 4:20 mark, but the Penguins went on a 14-3 run over the next 3:24 to cut the Titans lead to three, 69-66, with 56 second left.

Dawkins and Blackshear scored all 14 of the Penguins points during the spurt with Dawkins accounting for eight. Blackshear started the run with a 3-pointer, and after Dawkins split two free throws, he added an old-fashioned three-point play to get within seven. Dawkins made his only 3-pointer of the day to trim the deficit to five and his layup with just under a minute to go made it a one-possession game, 69-66.

Detroit Mercy's Tyler Spratt made two charity tosses and Orlando Lovejoy converted a Penguins turnover into a layup and extended the lead to seven 73-66 with 24 seconds remaining.

The Titans sealed the game making three of their last four free throws to seal the game.

Youngstown State faced an 11-point first half deficit as well trailing 29-18 but scored nine-straight points to get within two and held the Titans scoreless for 4:29. Two free throws by Rich Rolf, a 3-pointer by Cris Carroll, two more charity tosses by Rolf, and a fast-break layup by Jason Nelson made it a two-point Titan advantage.

Detroit scored eight of the last 10 points of the first half, including the last six, to take a 37-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Youngstown State hosts Cleveland State, Wednesday, Feb. 18. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at Zidian Family Arena.