Mercer University
Stetson
Men's Basketball Captures A-Sun Regular Season Championship
3/2/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DELAND, Fla. – All five Mercer men's basketball starters reached double figures en route to a historic 77-65 victory at Stetson on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Bears made good on a host of lofty preseason predictions and claimed the program's first outright Atlantic Sun regular season championship.
Mercer capped its regular season at 21-10 (14-4 A-Sun) and guaranteed life after the A-Sun Tournament, as the NIT grants an automatic bid to any league champion that fails to win their league playoff. Mercer will open the A-Sun tournament as the No. 1 seed on Wednesday, March 6 at 8:30 p.m. in Hawkins Arena.
"It was a tremendous team victory," Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. "We've got great guys who play their hearts out. They're a blessing and I'm thankful that we were able to find a way to get the No. 1 seed."
The triumph came a decade and a day after the last time the team finished atop the regular season standings, ironically also in a win over Stetson on March 1, 2003. That year, the team finished as Co-Champions with Troy and won the No. 1 seed by virtue of a tie-breaker.
Mercer senior Travis Smith netted a game-high 15 points while finishing just shy of a double-double with eight rebounds. Juniors Bud Thomas and Daniel Coursey each tallied 14 points, while junior Langston Hall contributed 12. Stetson fell to 14-14 (11-7 A-Sun) with the loss.
A slow start for both teams saw the Bears and Hatters combine for one-of-eight shooting and five turnovers in the opening four minutes. Nine minutes in, the game was knotted at 8-8 before the Hatters began a 9-2 run to gain separation.
At the 7:34 juncture, Thomas nailed a three that ignited an 18-1 Mercer run as the Bears held Hatters without a field goal for over 6:30 of game time. At the conclusion of the surge, the Orange and Black found themselves leading 28-18 with 3:31 to play.
Stetson junior Aaron Graham broke the Hatters out of the slump, canning two three pointers in 34 seconds to tighten matters. Bolstered by those shots, the Hatters finished the stanza on a 10-2 run to cut Mercer's halftime lead to 30-28.
After splitting the opening 20 points of the second period, Hoffman elected to put Hall and Kevin Canevari on the court at the same time, an unlikely move as both players typically play point guard. The gamble paid off, as Mercer scored on five consecutive possessions and opened up a 53-43 lead.
Stetson battled back to get within five, but Thomas sparked another Mercer explosion to put the game out of reach. This time, a Thomas triple began a 12-0 run to put Mercer in front 69-52 with 2:34 to go.
Hall also dished nine assists while adding three rebounds and a steal. Gollon registered five rebounds, a steal and an assist while Coursey collected four rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Thomas finished four-of-five from three-point range and five-of-six from the field.
Canevari racked up four steals and an assist in 12 minutes of work. His efforts helped the Bears finish the game with a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
After starting the conference slate 5-3, the Bears finished 9-1 in their last 10 league games to outpace Florida Gulf Coast (21-10, 13-5 A-Sun) for the title. Mercer will face the loser of tonight's North Florida-Lipscomb game in the opening round of the A-Sun tournament.
