Mercer University
Furman
Men's Hoops Earns Hard-Fought 67-64 Win Over Furman
1/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MACON, Ga. – Mercer started hot and led by as many as 14, but two key blocks by senior Darious Moten and junior Jibri Bryan down the stretch helped the Bears cement a 67-64 win over Furman in Thursday night's Southern Conference men's basketball game.
Mercer won its second-straight and jumped to 10-9 (5-1 SoCon) while the Furman slipped to 4-12 (2-4 SoCon).
Moten reached double figures for the fifth-straight time, scoring a team-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist. Senior T.J. Hallice added 13 points, five rebounds and two assists while junior Ike Nwamu chipped in 12 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Mercer blitzed Furman at the start, racing out to a 16-4 lead just over five minutes into the game. The Bears continued to push from there, going ahead 24-10 before the Paladins closed the stanza on a 19-8 run to trim their halftime deficit to 36-29.
Furman scored the first bucket of the second half to get within five, and eventually whittled their deficit to 42-40 with 12:01 to play. Mercer held strong, maintaining a slim advantage until the Paladins tied the game at 57-57 with 4:22 on the clock.
A layup by Hallice and a pair of free throws put Mercer back in front by four, but the Paladins got a clutch and-one layup from freshman Devin Sibley that made it a one-point game with 2:01 to play.
With less than a minute to go, the margin was still one when Furman's Kris Acox drove into traffic and was rejected by Moten, who secured the loose ball. The block led to a Bryan jumper on the other end and a 63-60 Mercer edge with 40 seconds to go.
With 23 seconds left, Furman was down three with a chance to tie the game. Bryan closed out his defender on the wing, batted the 3-point attempt and secured the loose ball. He hit one of his two ensuing free throws, giving Mercer an insurmountable 66-62 lead with nine seconds left.
Bryan finished with six points, six rebounds, four assists and a block. Junior Phillip Leonard booked eight points, five assists, two rebounds and a block.
Mercer shot a season-high 58.5 percent (24-of-41) from the floor, marking the seventh time this season the Bears have hit more than half of their field goal attempts. The hosts also finished with a 29-15 advantage in rebounding.
The Bears jumped out to a 9-2 lead on the heels of a Hallice slam to force Furman head coach Niko Medved into an early timeout. Despite Medved's attempt to stop the charge, Leonard drove baseline for a slam and Nwamu canned a trey from the wing to continue the Bears' momentum.
Six different Mercer players scored in the opening six minutes of the game, as the Bears attacked the Paladins from every angle. Mercer's seventh scorer got in the action with 9:32 to go before half, as freshman Stephon Jelks hit the first of two physical layups that helped the Bears go ahead by 14.
All eight players Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman deployed scored and grabbed at least one rebound. The Bears never trailed in the game, marking the fifth time the team has accomplished the feat this season.
The Bears wrap up a three-game homestand on Saturday, challenging Samford in a 4 p.m. tipoff.
