Sunday, December 31
Macon, Ga.
2 P.M.
Mercer University
(7-7, 0-1)
55
vs
74
ETSU
(10-4, 1-0)
1
2
F
East Tenn. St.
36
38
74
Mercer
30
25
55
Team Stats
ETSU
MER
FG%
.569
.392
3FG%
.556
.400
FT%
.667
.600
RB
26
32
TO
14
18
STL
10
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
6
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Judy Stapleton
Bears Fall to Bucs in SoCon Opener Despite Ringer’s Career Day
12/31/2017 2:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MACON, Ga.- Mercer's offense never could get untracked as the Bears lost their Southern Conference opener 74-55 to East Tennessee State Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Arena.
The Bears had just two players score in double figures - senior guard Ria'n Holland tallied 12 points, nine below his season average, while Desmond Ringer scored 10 and also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Jalan McCloud lit it up for ETSU, scoring a game-high 22 points on eight of 12 shooting from the floor, including four of six three pointers.
Mercer shot a season-low 39.2 percent from the field, connecting on just 20 of 51 field goal attempts. The Bears entered the game as the SoCon's leading field goal shooting team with a 48.7 percentage but had difficulty finding the range throughout the afternoon against the Buccaneers. Mercer was ice cold in the second half, hitting just eight of 27 shots for 29.6 percent. The Bears, the league's top assist/turnover ratio team heading into today's game, turned the ball over 18 times while handing out just nine assists. ETSU sank 51.9 percent from the floor, including 10 of 18 three pointers for a sizzling 55.6 percent. The Bucs entered the game hitting a SoCon worst 31.3 percent from behind the arc.
Mercer led 17-10 with 10:48 remaining in the first half before ETSU went on a 22-6 run to race out to a 32-23 lead. The Bucs shot a blazing 62.5% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including five of eight from behind three point arc, and took a 36-30 lead into the locker room. McCloud led the first half offense for the Bucs with 10 points on four of five shooting, including
two of three from three point land.
Mercer was unable to post a significant rally in the second half as ETSU's lead fluctuated between eight and 10 points over the first eight minutes of the final stanza. The Bears managed to cut the lead to five at 49-44 on a three-pointer by Holland at the 12:31 mark but ETSU outscored Mercer 12-4 over the next 4:30 to extend its lead to 61-48 and the Bears never got closer than 11 the remainder of the game.
Ringer said that Mercer's turnovers and inability to execute efficiently on offense were pivotal in today's loss.
"We turned the ball over way too many times and we had poor shot selection and that led to some easy run outs for them," said Ringer. "They are a good team; they run their offensive sets well but we fueled their fire by turning the ball over too many times. We need to get back to work and execute much better moving forward."
Mercer falls to 7-7, 0-1, on the season while ETSU improves to 10-4 and 1-0 in league play.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Desmond Ringer was the Bears' player of the game earning his first double-double of the season. Ringer tallied a career-high 12 rebounds and 10 points on the day, going 5 for 11 from the field.
QUOTABLES
"We weren't able to finish some plays in the first half and it kind of snowballed on us. It was almost like we were in shock mode and it happened so fast. We couldn't score and they were playing well. They had multiple guys hit shots that hadn't been making them all year. You always know that those things can happen. The thing I told our guys is that we have to fight harder; we have to fight longer and we have to be more together than we were today against a really talented and well-coached team. When you're not that way, then it's my fault. The game was really physical and they (ETSU) was running through passing lanes. We're kind of a finesse team and we'll have to be more tough-minded than we were here today. Those are the things that we'll work on heading into Saturday's game against Furman. We've been one of the league's top assist/turnover ratio teams all year and we've played some really good teams and tonight we got beat by a better team. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to play them two more times and we'll be ready. We weren't ready to finish it tonight. We've got 17 more opportunities to get ready in conference play. It doesn't mean you can't still win the league. This is a long league season and there will be a lot of bumps and bruises along the way. This is not a fun one to deal with and I apologize to the all the people that came out here tonight but I can promise you that we will do better. We've got a week to prepare for Furman and we need to have some tough practices to get our edge back, because we really didn't show it here tonight." --Head Coach Bob Hoffman
NOTABLES
The Bears continue SoCon action later this week by traveling to Greenville, S.C., to take on the Furman Paladins Saturday, Jan. 6. Tipoff at Timmons Arena is 4:30 p.m. (ET).
Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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The Bears had just two players score in double figures - senior guard Ria'n Holland tallied 12 points, nine below his season average, while Desmond Ringer scored 10 and also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Jalan McCloud lit it up for ETSU, scoring a game-high 22 points on eight of 12 shooting from the floor, including four of six three pointers.
Mercer shot a season-low 39.2 percent from the field, connecting on just 20 of 51 field goal attempts. The Bears entered the game as the SoCon's leading field goal shooting team with a 48.7 percentage but had difficulty finding the range throughout the afternoon against the Buccaneers. Mercer was ice cold in the second half, hitting just eight of 27 shots for 29.6 percent. The Bears, the league's top assist/turnover ratio team heading into today's game, turned the ball over 18 times while handing out just nine assists. ETSU sank 51.9 percent from the floor, including 10 of 18 three pointers for a sizzling 55.6 percent. The Bucs entered the game hitting a SoCon worst 31.3 percent from behind the arc.
Mercer led 17-10 with 10:48 remaining in the first half before ETSU went on a 22-6 run to race out to a 32-23 lead. The Bucs shot a blazing 62.5% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including five of eight from behind three point arc, and took a 36-30 lead into the locker room. McCloud led the first half offense for the Bucs with 10 points on four of five shooting, including
two of three from three point land.
Mercer was unable to post a significant rally in the second half as ETSU's lead fluctuated between eight and 10 points over the first eight minutes of the final stanza. The Bears managed to cut the lead to five at 49-44 on a three-pointer by Holland at the 12:31 mark but ETSU outscored Mercer 12-4 over the next 4:30 to extend its lead to 61-48 and the Bears never got closer than 11 the remainder of the game.
Ringer said that Mercer's turnovers and inability to execute efficiently on offense were pivotal in today's loss.
"We turned the ball over way too many times and we had poor shot selection and that led to some easy run outs for them," said Ringer. "They are a good team; they run their offensive sets well but we fueled their fire by turning the ball over too many times. We need to get back to work and execute much better moving forward."
Mercer falls to 7-7, 0-1, on the season while ETSU improves to 10-4 and 1-0 in league play.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Desmond Ringer was the Bears' player of the game earning his first double-double of the season. Ringer tallied a career-high 12 rebounds and 10 points on the day, going 5 for 11 from the field.
QUOTABLES
"We weren't able to finish some plays in the first half and it kind of snowballed on us. It was almost like we were in shock mode and it happened so fast. We couldn't score and they were playing well. They had multiple guys hit shots that hadn't been making them all year. You always know that those things can happen. The thing I told our guys is that we have to fight harder; we have to fight longer and we have to be more together than we were today against a really talented and well-coached team. When you're not that way, then it's my fault. The game was really physical and they (ETSU) was running through passing lanes. We're kind of a finesse team and we'll have to be more tough-minded than we were here today. Those are the things that we'll work on heading into Saturday's game against Furman. We've been one of the league's top assist/turnover ratio teams all year and we've played some really good teams and tonight we got beat by a better team. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to play them two more times and we'll be ready. We weren't ready to finish it tonight. We've got 17 more opportunities to get ready in conference play. It doesn't mean you can't still win the league. This is a long league season and there will be a lot of bumps and bruises along the way. This is not a fun one to deal with and I apologize to the all the people that came out here tonight but I can promise you that we will do better. We've got a week to prepare for Furman and we need to have some tough practices to get our edge back, because we really didn't show it here tonight." --Head Coach Bob Hoffman
NOTABLES
- Senior guard Ria'n Holland kept his streak of double-digit scoring alive, recording 12 points on 5 for 12 from the field. Holland also dished three assists and grabbed a rebound.
- Senior forward Desmond Ringer had a career night, tallying a double-double with a career high 12 rebounds and 10 points. Ringer also dished two assists on the day.
- Mercer out-rebounded the Bucs 32 to 26.
- The Bears' bench provided 17 points in relief.
- Mercer struggled from the field shooting 39.2% (20 for 51), including 40% from behind the arc (6 for 15).
- Eleven different players saw action for the Bears, with 10 of them getting on the scoreboard.
- Mercer: (7-7, 0-1 SoCon)
- ETSU: (10-4, 1-0 SoCon)
The Bears continue SoCon action later this week by traveling to Greenville, S.C., to take on the Furman Paladins Saturday, Jan. 6. Tipoff at Timmons Arena is 4:30 p.m. (ET).
Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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