Men's Basketball Drops 96-82 Decision at Oklahoma
12/3/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NORMAN, Okla. – Oklahoma native Monty Brown scored a career-high 16 points to lead a collection of 11 Mercer players in the scoring column as the men's basketball team dropped a 96-82 decision to Oklahoma on Monday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.
Mercer concluded its three-game road trip and fell to 5-4 while Oklahoma won its second-straight and moved to 6-1 on the season.
"They made all kinds of shots and we didn't respond," Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. "Darious Moten, Kevin Canevari, Phillip and Monty were outstanding. They worked hard tonight and competed down the stretch."
Brown scored his 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field while adding seven rebounds, a block and a steal in 19 minutes of work. He was joined in double-figure scoring by fellow Oklahoma native Phillip Leonard (12 points) and Bud Thomas (11 points).
Mercer led 10-8 at the first media timeout before the Sooners came out of the break and blitzed Mercer with a 16-0 run to stake a 24-10 lead with 12:19 to go before halftime. Leonard stopped the bleeding with a three-ball at the 12:04 juncture and Daniel Coursey followed with a jumper to keep Mercer within striking distance.
Later, Brown scored a pick-and-roll layup and Jibri Bryan nailed a three from the wing to get Mercer within eight (32-24) with less than seven minutes to go before half. A quick 5-0 retort by the Sooners got their lead back to 13, and the teams played even the rest of the way to send Mercer to the locker room behind 45-32.
The Sooners came out of the dressing room red hot, using an 18-0 surge to take their biggest lead of the game at 63-32 with 16:21 remaining.
Brown scored 14 of his points after that point to lead a group of Mercer reserves that beat the Sooners 50-33 in the final 16 minutes of play. Leonard scored nine of his points during that stretch.
Mercer returns action host Denver on Saturday. Tip at Hawkins Arena is scheduled for 3 p.m.
