Mercer University
ETSU
Trademark Defense Lifts Men's Basketball Over ETSU
2/6/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MACON, Ga. – A defensive slugfest ended with the Mercer men's basketball team claiming its eighth-straight Atlantic Sun win on Monday night against East Tennessee State. Mercer held ETSU to a season-low point total in the 54-46 victory at the University Center.
Mercer remained unbeaten at home in conference play and moved to 19-7 (11-2 A-Sun). ETSU saw its two-game winning streak end and fell to 12-11 (6-6 A-Sun). All told, the Bears have posted wins in 11 of their last 12 games and earned Monday night's victory over the only team to beat them during that stretch.
Mercer's suffocating zone defense limited the visiting Bucs to 15-of-55 (27.3%) shooting on Monday and saw the Bears snap a four-game slide against the conference rival.
"A lot of people might call that game ugly, but I think it was beautiful," Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. "We played defense like we have most of the season and it was the difference in the game."
Mercer's defense, which entered the game ranked 19th in the country in field-goal percentage allowed held its opponent to under 50 points for the fourth time this season. The last Mercer team to an opponent to under 50 points four times in the same year was the 1953-54 edition of the Bears.
Langston Hall, Travis Smith and Bud Thomas all scored 11 points on Monday night while Jakob Gollon grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
ETSU had an early 11-10 advantage before Mercer sophomore Monty Brown blocked a shot on the defensive end and scored on the ensuing possession with help of an underhanded dish from Gollon. Brown was fouled on the play and canned the subsequent free throw to put the hosts up 13-11 with 9:16 to play.
Later in the half, Mercer had a one-point edge when Chris Smith picked a visiting guard's pocket and went the distance for an and-one layup. Smith drilled his free throw and the old-fashioned three-point play was part of an 11-3 run for the Bears that saw the team go into the break on top 24-17.
"The energy guy that changed the momentum in the first half was Chris Smith – no doubt about it," Hoffman said.
With seven minutes left ETSU had trimmed its deficit to three for the third time in the second half before Travis Smith swished a pull-up jumper that sparked an 8-0 Mercer charge. Smith scored five of Mercer's points during the surge that gave the Bears their biggest lead of the evening (45-34).
ETSU responded with six unanswered points, forcing Hoffman to call a timeout to halt the shift in momentum. His strategy proved effective as Mercer scored out of the timeout and had the lead back to seven with less than two minutes to play.
In the final two minutes, Mercer converted seven of its final nine free throws to secure the victory. In the final box score, Mercer showed 19-of-23 aim from the charity stripe.
Mercer returns to action at Kennesaw State in the Comcast Sports South Atlantic Sun game of the week on February 10. Tip-off at the KSU Convocation Center is slated for 7:06 p.m.
