Mercer University
Colorado St.
Men's Basketball Suffers Hard-Fought 75-62 Loss at Colorado State
11/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Senior Darious Moten and junior Jibri Bryan combined for 26 points as the Mercer men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 75-62 decision to Colorado State at Moby Arena Sunday evening.
Mercer slipped to 2-2 on the season while Colorado State remained undefeated at 3-0.
"I told the guys if we have that intensity and attitude, we'll have something special to play for at the end of the year," head coach Bob Hoffman said. "We got beat today, and there are no moral victories, but our intensity against a quick, hard team to guard was encouraging."
Moten's seventh career double-digit scoring performance saw him net a team-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Moten also chipped in seven rebounds and an assist in 32 minutes of work.
Bryan scored 12 for his second-straight game in double figures while also adding four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Mercer's two seniors got the Bears off to a strong start, as good post defense by T.J. Hallice forced a CSU turnover and Moten twisted and got a finger roll to drop for a 2-0 lead. Another Rams turnover and a Phillip Leonard free throw gave the Bears a 3-0 advantage 79 seconds in.
CSU got on the board the next time down, as junior Joe De Ciman drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to open the flood gates on a 13-0 push by the Rams. Moten finally broke the Bears' three-plus minute scoreless streak with a put-back layup and junior Jestin Lewis added a 3-pointer to get the Bears back within five at the 14:12 juncture.
After CSU extended its lead to 40-30 at halftime, the Bears roared out of intermission with a Bryan three and a thunderous one-hand slam by Moten. The hosts sharpened up quickly, however, hitting eight consecutive field goals over the next 5:18 to take an 18-point lead.
The Bears refused to quit, retaliating with an 11-3 spurt of their own to get the deficit back to 10 midway through the half. Mercer continued to fight the rest of the way, but was unable to get any closer than nine before the final buzzer.
Hallice finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Leonard and junior Ike Nwamu each added eight points. The Bears wound up with advantages in paint scoring (30-28), points off turnovers (17-12), second-chance scoring (13-12) and bench scoring (11-1).
"There was multiple times they could have knocked us out, but our team stood up to the challenge, came back and fought," Hoffman said. "That's how you have to play on the road to be successful. We're figuring it out little by little."
Mercer continues its four-game road swing at the Great Alaskan Shootout on Nov. 27. The Bears are scheduled to open the event against Rice at 9:30 p.m. EST.
