Mercer University
Duke
No. 14 Mercer Advances to Round of 32 with 78-71 Win over No. 3 Duke
3/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. – In what may be described as one of the biggest upsets in recent NCAA Tournament history, the No. 14 seeded Mercer men's basketball team made all the plays down the stretch to capture a 78-71 win over No. 3 seeded Duke in the second round of the Midwest Regional on Friday afternoon at PNC Arena.
Mercer (27-8) ended the game on an 18-8 run to capture its first NCAA Tournament win in the 108-year history of the men's basketball program.
The Bears became just the eighteenth No. 14 seed to ever knock off a No. 3 seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament and now advance to face 11th-seeded Tennessee Volunteers. Mercer's last meeting with Tennessee came in the 2013 NIT, when the Bears knocked off the Vols 75-67 in Knoxville.
Senior Jakob Gollon paced five Bears in double figures with 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 9-for-9 showing from the free throw line. Joining him were senior Daniel Coursey (17), senior Anthony White Jr. (13) and senior Langston Hall (11).
Mercer shot 56 percent (25-of-45) from the field in the contest and handed out 16 assists in comparison to just eight turnovers. The Bears also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Blue Devils 26-10 on the inside.
The Bears' 27 wins equals the program record win total set by the 2011-12 edition of the team. Duke entered the game ranked No. 6 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, thus establishing Mercer's first win against a ranked opponent since topping No. 23 USC on November 10, 2007.
Mercer trailed by six with 3:21 to play in the first half before a pair of Ike Nwamu free throws sparked a 10-3 surge that put the Bears ahead with 51 seconds to go in the half. The final bucket in the stretch was delivered by Gollon, who squared up for a 3-pointer and a 34-33 Mercer edge.
Duke freshman phenom Jabari Parker closed the half's scoring with a jumper, but by then the packed-out section of Mercer supporters had been stoked into hysteria.
Out of the half, Mercer's collection put together an 11-5 run that continued to fuel the orange-clad group of supporters. Duke returned fire with five unanswered points to knot the game once again at 45-45.
With less than five minutes to go, Duke had gone up by five once again before Coursey got his patented hook shot to fall and White Jr. drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to knot the game at 63 apiece.
The momentum continued to swing towards Mercer as the Bears reeled off six more unanswered points to go ahead by six with less than a minute to play. Mercer's defense held the Blue Devils scoreless for over four minutes during the surge.
With the game still very much in doubt down the stretch, Mercer combined for 12-of-14 free throw shooting in the final two minutes to seal the victory.
Game time for Sunday's Round of 32 matchup with Tennessee is set for 6:10 p.m. and will be nationally telecast on TNT.
