One of college basketball’s longest-standing records could have fell Thursday.
Instead, it proved impregnable, even to one of the highest-scoring guards the college game has ever seen.
Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis finished three points shy of Pete Maravich’s Division I record for most career points, a high watermark set more than 50 years ago.
Heading into the Horizon League tournament game against Youngstown State, Davis was 26 points away from college basketball immortality. However, he was unable to match Maravich’s mark, dropping 22 points as the Titans fell 71-66 to the Penguins.
Davis, fresh off a 38-point explosion vs. Purdue Fort-Wayne, struggled to find a rhythm on Thursday, clanking a number of early looks. It seemed Youngstown State was hellbent on depriving the talented guard of open shots, holding him to just seven points in the first 20 minutes of play.
Davis began to find his groove in the second half. And for a time, it seemed that maybe he would have another bite at the cherry — Detroit Mercy led for much of the affair.
However, the 6-foot-1 guard dealt with foul trouble all night. And after seeing a wayward last-second attempt bounce off the iron, Davis had to be restrained from going after a Penguins player as he left the floor.
Of course, Davis had plenty of advantages in his pursuit of the mark; while Maravich scored his 3,667 points in just 83 games (with no 3-point line), an average of 44.2 per game, Davis played in 144 games across his Titans career.
Davis averaged 25.5 points per game in his career and 28.4 per game so far in his final season. Unless Detroit Mercy nabs an unlikely tournament berth, it seems he will have to settle for second-place on the all-time men’s college basketball totem pole.
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Here’s where Davis stacks up among other college basketball greats:
NCAA basketball all-time scoring leaders
Below is a list of the top-10 all-time scorers in NCAA men’s basketball history, including their record and when and where they attended college:
| Rank | Player | Points | School | Years |
| 1. | Pete Maravich | 3,667 | LSU | 1967-70 |
| 2. | Antoine Davis | 3,664* | Detroit Mercy | 2018-23 |
| 3. | Freeman Williams | 3,249 | Portland State | 1974-78 |
| 4. | Chris Clemons | 3,225 | Campbell | 2015-19 |
| 5. | Lionel Simmons | 3,217 | La Salle | 1986-90 |
| 6. | Alphonso Ford | 3,165 | Mississippi Valley State | 1989-93 |
| 7. | Doug McDermott | 3,150 | Creighton | 2010-14 |
| 8. | Mike Daum | 3,067 | South Dakota State | 2015-19 |
| 9. | Harry Kelly | 3,066 | Texas Southern | 1979-83 |
| 10. | Keydren Clark | 3,058 | St. Peter’s | 2002-06 |
* – Through March 2, 2023