Mercer University
Furman
Men's Basketball Takes on Furman in SoCon Semifinal
3/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SOCON TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | MERCER SOCON TOURNAMENT GUIDE | SEMIFINAL SUPPLEMENT NOTES
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer men's basketball team makes sixth conference tournament semifinal appearance under seventh-year head coach Bob Hoffman Sunday evening, squaring off with 10th-seeded Furman at 8:30 p.m.
GAME DETAILS
Date: Sunday, March 8, 2015 | 8:30 p.m. (EST)
Teams: No. 10 Furman (10-21, 5-13 Socon) vs. No. 3 Mercer (18-14, 12-6 SoCon)
Location: Asheville, N.C. – US Cellular Center
Television: ESPN3 (Darren Goldwater, Dean Kenner, Robin Muller)
Radio: New Country 96.5 | IHeartRadio (Rick Cameron)
Livestats: SoConSports.com
Tickets: TicketMaster.com
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Paladins stunned second-seeded Chattanooga, 69-67 in Saturday's SoCon Quarterfinal. The team is 2-0 in neutral site games and 1-14 in road contests.
Furman is led by the backcourt duo of junior Stephen Croone and freshman Devin Sibley. Croone paces the squad at 17.4 points per game and earned All-SoCon honors at the conclusion of the regular season. Sibley was named the league's Freshman of the Year and averages 10.3 points per game.
Sibley headlines a quartet of first-year impact players. Sibley, Geoff Beans, John Davis III and Daniel Fowler have combined for 871 points on the year, accounting for 43.9 percent of the team's scoring.
Head coach Niko Medved owns a 19-42 record in his second year on the Furman sidelines. Prior to being introduced as Head Coach on April 12, 2013, Medved spent 14 seasons as an Assistant Coach at Colorado State, Minnesota and Furman.
FAST FACTS
Mercer is 10-5 in conference tournament games under head coach Bob Hoffman. A win on Saturday would advance Mercer to a conference final for the fourth time under Hoffman.
Senior All-SoCon selection Darious Moten was injured just three minutes into Saturday night's quarterfinal against VMI. The Bears never missed a beat, as forwards T.J. Hallice, Stephon Jelks and Lawrence Brown combined for 40 points and 23 rebounds. Hallice and Brown' both set career-highs with 19 and 9 points, respectively.
Mercer won both regular season meetings with Furman to take an 8-7 lead in the all-time series. The Bears have won five-straight against the Paladins, including four under the leadership of Bob Hoffman.
The Bears tied a season-high 20 assists on Saturday against VMI. The other 20-assist game came in a Feb. 7 win at Furman.
Mercer's 28-point win over VMI on Saturday was the Bears' eighth win by 20 or more this season. Over the past five years, Mercer has posted 37 wins by 20 or more points.
Mercer went 7-1 against its half of the bracket, with the only loss at Chattanooga on Feb. 19. The Bears are 2-4 against the other three teams still in contention for the SoCon title.
