EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Six players scored in double figures and SIUE men's basketball picked up its third win in four games, defeating Detroit Mercy 81-67 at First Community Arena Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars improved to 4-3. UDM fell to 0-6.

In another strong defensive performance, SIUE held Detroit Mercy to just 33 percent shooting. The Cougars allowed fewer than 70 points for the sixth time in seven games this season.

"When we are successful, it is really clear, everyone is involved," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "As we continue to trust, starting with me, we're going to continue to grow as a team. It was evident today with six guys in double figures."

Lamar Wright led the balanced attack with 19 points on six-of-eight shooting. He was 3-4 from three-point territory.  

"We have a lot of weapons on this team," he said. "Everyone in the starting five has the opportunity to go off and score 20 points. We know how to separate and share the ball and feed the hot hand. That's what they did for me today."

Ray'Sean Taylor scored 15 points, all of which came in the second half. Damarco Minor, Terrance Thompson and Shamar Wright each scored 10 points.

Freshman Jordan Pickett pitched in 11 points, for his first collegiate double-digit scoring game.

"This young man can impact a ton of programs right now," Barone said of Pickett. "He did what he did today, because of what he has done the last few days (in practice). He doesn't have a fear. He made the right decisions and the right plays, which is what our team needed when he was in there."

Pickett was 3-6 from the field and 4-5 at the free throw line while adding an assist and two steals.

"Coach told me he had a lot of faith in me, and it kept me motivated," Pickett said. "I just learn every day in practice and wait on my turn. This is a great group of guys here and I just learn every day as much as I can."

SIUE took a 38-26 lead into halftime, but UDM made a push to start the second half. They opened the half on a 11-0 run to cut the lead down to just one (38-37) with 17:22 left.

The Cougars scored the next five points and had pushed the advantage to 14 with back-to-back triples from Taylor before Pickett hit a pair of free throws to make it 65-51. It all came as part of a larger 13-2 run that extended SIUE's lead to 70-53 with 8:03 left.  

"I could call timeout and get a lot of things out of my brain, which would have been aggressive and not overly nice. At the end of the day, it's these guys who have been in situations like that, who have to figure out how to turn it. When you look out there, you knew that they knew we had to do some things better."

SIUE extended the lead to 18 points on three separate occasions, including with 1:43 left after a jumper from the paint from Thompson.

The Cougars shot 56 percent from the field (29-52) overall and also knocked down 15-19 free throws (79 percent). The Cougars turned the ball over just seven times, marking the fourth straight games SIUE has finished with fewer than 10 turnovers.

Jayden Stone led all scored with 23 points for UDM. Marcus Tinkersley added 16 points.

SIUE remains home to face Missouri Baptist in a 7 p.m. game Tuesday at First Community Arena.