MILWAUKEE – Guard Brandon Cotton sparked a 15-7 second-half surge to lead the University of Detroit Titans to a 57-50 men’s basketball victory over the UMaine Black Bears in the College Basketball Experience Classic Monday night at the Bradley Center.

Detroit, 1-0, will face host Marquette (2-0) in tonight’s championship while the 0-2 Bears will battle 0-1 Idaho State in the 5:30 p.m. consolation contest. Marquette defeated Idaho State 59-56 in overtime.

Cotton finished with a game-high 24 points on a 9-for-15 effort from the field and led the Titans comeback in the second half when he scored seven points in that 15-7 run during a six-minute surge that tied the game at 43 at the 6:06 mark after Maine had led 37-28.

Guard Jon Sheets answered with two free throws for the Bears, but Cotton responded by nailing a 3-pointer for a 46-45 lead with 4:26 left that the Titans wouldn’t relinquish.

Forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia paced the Bears with 17 points and seven rebounds while Sheets chipped in with 12 points and five assists. Guard Junior Bernal added nine points.

The Bears were hurt by a 32 percent shooting performance from the field (18 of 56), particularly in the second half when they hit only 29 percent of their shots (8 of 27). Maine senior guard Kevin Reed was held to six points in 30 minutes of play as he hit only 2 of 14 field goals, including 0 of 8 from 3-point range.

Detroit responded with a 42 percent effort from the field (20 of 47) that included 26 points from the paint, compared to Maine’s 14.

Detroit built its lead to 51-45 with 1:30 left as it held Maine scoreless for three minutes until Reed hit two free throws to cut it to 51-47 with 47 seconds left.

The Titans then sealed the victory by making 4 of 6 free throws in the final 47 seconds while Maine didn’t score until Sheets hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Tchekane Bofia turned in a strong first half when he scored 13 of his 17 points to give the Bears a 27-23 lead.

Bernal nailed a jumper with 9:27 left in the half to give Maine its first lead of the game, 11-10. Tchekane Bofia then scored Maine’s next 13 points, highlighted by three straight 3-pointers at the top of the key, to give it a 24-16 lead with 3:01 left.

The Titans responded to cut Maine’s lead to four at the half as Cotton scored five of their seven points.

Center Ryvon Coville chipped in with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Titans.

Maine enjoyed a slight rebounding edge (37-35) and had three fewer turnovers than Detroit (16-13).

TITANS 57, BLACK BEARS 50

Maine (0-2) Detroit (1-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tcne-Bofia 7 13 0 1 17 Jokic 1 5 3

Ahveniemi 0 0 1 3 1 Hayes 1 4 2

Sheets 4 12 2 2 12 Covile 5 8 12

Bernal 3 9 3 4 9 Cotton 9 15 24

Reed 2 14 2 3 6 Goode 1 6 0 3

Bruff 2 2 0 0 4 Bell 3 4 9

Socoby 0 5 0 0 0 Adr-Rahm 0 2

Cook 0 1 0 0 0 Evernghm 0 4 2

Cavnaugh 0 0 1 3 1 Stephens 0 0

Payne 0 0 0 0

Washngtn 0 0 0

Totals 18 56 9 16 50 20 47 10 16 57

Maine 27 50

Detroit 23 57

3-pt. goals – Maine (5-22): Tchekane-Bofia 3-4, Sheets 2-7, Reed 0-8, Socoby 0-3; Detroit (7-23): Jokic 1-4, Cotton 3-8, Goode 1-4, Bell 2-3, Everingham 0-4