Men's Basketball Eyes Best A-Sun Start in a Decade
1/11/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
GAME NOTES
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Mercer men's basketball team will look to start 4-1 in Atlantic Sun Conference play for the first time in 10 years as it challenges Jacksonville on Saturday afternoon. Game time at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum is slated for 3:15 p.m.
The Bears are winners in four of their last five outings and can equal the 2002-03 Mercer team's 4-1 conference start with a win on Saturday. Standing in the way is a Jacksonville team that touts a 6-1 record in home games this season.
COVERAGE
Saturday's game will have a web telecast at www.ASun.tv. Audio coverage can be heard live on The Peach, 96.5 FM with play-by-play coverage provided by "The Voice of the Bears", Rick Cameron.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE
The Dolphins needed triple overtime on Thursday to top Kennesaw State, 99-92 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Entering Saturday's play, Jacksonville sports a 8-10 (3-2 A-Sun) record with conference wins over Northern Kentucky, Lipscomb and Kennesaw State.
A balanced scoring attack has four Jacksonville players averaging more than nine points per game. Junior guard Keith McDougald paces the team at 11.3 points per game, while freshman Jarvis Haywood is next best at 10.8 points per outing. Senior forward Glenn Powell and junior Dylan Fritsch both average 9.8 points per game.
Glenn Powell ranks fourth among league leaders in rebounding, pulling down an average of 7.6 boards per game. He's also one of just eight A-Sun players averaging one or more blocks per game.
Head coach Cliff Warren has significant depth on his squad, as 11 players average 10 or more minutes per game. Glenn Powell and senior guard Russell Powell are the only two players to start all 18 games this season.
On Thursday, Warren became the school's all-time wins leader, with 108 victories to his credit. His 108th victory surpassed the previous mark held by Rollie Rourke (1953-60).
FAST FACTS
The last time Mercer started 4-1 in conference play, the team captured the Atlantic Sun regular season championship with a 14-2 league record.
Mercer has held an opponent under 50 points five times this year. The last Mercer team to hold an opponent under 50 five times in the same season was the 1951-52 edition of the Bears.
Langston Hall is the A-Sun's only active player with 800 career points, 300 assists and 100 steals. Next closest player is Jacksonville's Russell Powell with 703 points, 96 steals and 326 assists.
In nine of Mercer's 10 wins this season, the Bears have outscored the opponent in the second half. The lone exception was when Chattanooga edged the Bears 31-30 in the second half.
Head coach Bob Hoffman is only three wins away from his 400th victory as a collegiate men's basketball head coach. The only A-Sun coach with more is USC Upstate's Eddie Payne (409).
