Mercer University
Wofford
Men's Hoops Edged by Wofford, 76-72
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's basketball team battled back from a 14-point deficit before falling to Southern Conference leader Wofford, 76-72 on Thursday night at Hawkins Arena. Senior Darious Moten scored a team-high 18 points, while junior Ike Nwamu and freshman Stephon Jelks chipped in 14 apiece.
Mercer slipped to 16-14 (11-6 SoCon) while Wofford moved to 24-6 (15-2 SoCon) and clinched at least a share of the league's regular season title.
Moten scored 16 of his points in the second half while helping the Bears win the period by a 47-41 margin. Nwamu dished a career-high eight assists and Jelks was 6-for-7 from the floor en route to his season-high scoring total.
A veteran Wofford team was undaunted by a sold-out Hawkins Arena, hitting 6-of-8 field goals out of the gate to bust open a 14-7 lead. The Bears retaliated with a 9-2 surge, keyed by the play of Jelks and freshman Jordan Strawberry to earn their first tie at the 8:28 juncture.
Mercer's freshman duo fed off an electric crowd, combining for 10 of Mercer's first 12 points. Jelks, who had seven of the points, was aided by three assists from Strawberry during the stretch.
After tying the game, Mercer missed five consecutive 3-pointers and the visitors scored 11-unanswered while mounting the 14-point lead. The Bears finished the half nicely, outscoring the Terriers 5-1 down the stretch to trim the deficit to 35-25 at the break.
Mercer roared out of the dressing room with a 9-0 run to get within a single point of the lead. Junior Jestin Lewis and Jelks finally put the Bears ahead, as a Lewis nailed a trey Jelks hammered a fast break slam to put the hosts in front, 39-37.
With 6:39 to play, the game's eighth tie saw the teams knotted at 55-55. The Terriers scored the next five points to gain separation and ultimately pushed their lead to 71-61 with 2:48 to go.
As the clock went under the one minute mark, Mercer trailed by six and had life as junior Phillip Leonard got a steal in the backcourt. An offensive foul derailed the momentum just moments later and allowed the Terriers to maintain the buffer.
The Bears cut it to 75-72 on a 3-pointer by Moten with 16 seconds to play, but the shot proved to be too-little, too late as Wofford's Lee Skinner hit a free throw on the other end to account for the game's final score.
Nwamu handed out six of his assists in the second half and finished the game with just a single turnover. The Bears finished with a 25-13 advantage in bench scoring, as Jelks was joined in the scoring column by Lewis, Strawberry and Lawrence Brown.
Mercer concludes the regular season on Saturday, hosting ETSU for a 4 p.m. Senior Day tipoff.
