Saturday, December 29
Atlanta, Ga.
1:30 p.m.
Mercer University
5-8
67
vs
71
Harvard
6-5
1
2
F
Harvard
41
30
71
Mercer
28
39
67
Team Stats
HARV
MER
FG%
.489
.479
3FG%
.429
.429
FT%
.619
.625
RB
32
28
TO
20
14
STL
5
10
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
6
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Mitch Robinson
Mercer’s Second Half Comeback Comes Up Short Against Harvard
12/29/2018 4:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bears battle to the end before dropping 71-67 decision
ATLANTA, Ga. – Down as many as 18 points in the first half and 17 in the second, Mercer once again displayed grit and determination before falling 71-67 to Harvard Saturday afternoon at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Mercer junior guard Ross Cummings led all scorers with 21 points, while junior guard Djordje Dimitrijevic came off the bench to spark a second half rally with 16. Freshman post man Fardaws Aimaq turned in the best overall performance of his young Mercer career with 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Ivy League member Harvard was led in scoring by Noah Kirkwood, who scored 19 points, with 17 of those coming in the first half as the Crimson led by as many as 18 in the opening 20 minutes.
Playing its final non-conference game of the regular season on the Atlanta Hawks' home floor, Mercer took an early 9-7 lead on a three-point basket by Jaylen Stowe at the 13:52 mark of the first half before Harvard's Kirkwood began to heat up from the outside. Kirkwood quickly scored 13 points over the next four minutes to propel the Crimson on an 8-0 run and a 23-13 lead. Mercer's offense went cold and Harvard continued to pull away, extending the margin to 18 at 41-23 with 1:21 left in the opening half. The Bears ended the first stanza on a 5-0 run and Harvard took a 41-28 lead into the locker room. Kirkwood was the main catalyst for Harvard, scoring 17 first half points.
Harvard went up by 17 at 47-30 at the 17:15 mark of the second half before Mercer mounted a rally to slice the lead to nine, 48-39, on consecutive three-point baskets by Cummings. The Bears continued to turn up the defensive pressure and slowly but surely clawed their way back into the game. Five straight points by Dimitrijevic drew Mercer to within five at 49-44 with 10:24 remaining. Harvard then scored the game's next five points to go back up by 10, 54-44. The Crimson's lead grew to 13 before the Bears fought back to close the advantage to 60-51 with 4:44 remaining. Mercer kept fighting and came within four, 69-65, on a three-pointer by Dimitrijevic with 20 ticks of the clock remaining. Harvard connected in a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to help seal the victory for the Crimson.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Junior guard Ross Cummings led all scorers with 21 points on six of 12 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from three point range.
NOTABLES
QUOTABLES
Coach Bob Hoffman – "We looked like we'd been off a long time in the first half. It didn't seem like we had much energy at the beginning. We showed a lot more fight in the second half; we were much better the final 20 minutes. Every possession is a learning experience for us. I still have a lot of faith in these guys and believe we are continuing to grow as a team. That was a good team we played today. They are talented, play well together and are well coached. We continued to battle back; we've done that in a lot of games. While I like that aspect of our team, I don't particularly like the outcome. It was a good experience playing here; I appreciate the administration and the work they did to help make this happen. We had a good crowd here, too. We just need to keep digging and improving; we have two very tough conference road games coming up next week (at Furman and at Wofford)."
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer resumes Southern Conference play with a two-game road swing that starts this Thursday, Jan. 3 against Furman in Greenville, S.C. Tipoff time at Timmons arena is 7 p.m. (ET). Two days later on Jan. 5, the Bears square off against Wofford in Spartanburg, S.C., with the start time set for 7 p.m. (ET) at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
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.
Mercer junior guard Ross Cummings led all scorers with 21 points, while junior guard Djordje Dimitrijevic came off the bench to spark a second half rally with 16. Freshman post man Fardaws Aimaq turned in the best overall performance of his young Mercer career with 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Ivy League member Harvard was led in scoring by Noah Kirkwood, who scored 19 points, with 17 of those coming in the first half as the Crimson led by as many as 18 in the opening 20 minutes.
Playing its final non-conference game of the regular season on the Atlanta Hawks' home floor, Mercer took an early 9-7 lead on a three-point basket by Jaylen Stowe at the 13:52 mark of the first half before Harvard's Kirkwood began to heat up from the outside. Kirkwood quickly scored 13 points over the next four minutes to propel the Crimson on an 8-0 run and a 23-13 lead. Mercer's offense went cold and Harvard continued to pull away, extending the margin to 18 at 41-23 with 1:21 left in the opening half. The Bears ended the first stanza on a 5-0 run and Harvard took a 41-28 lead into the locker room. Kirkwood was the main catalyst for Harvard, scoring 17 first half points.
Harvard went up by 17 at 47-30 at the 17:15 mark of the second half before Mercer mounted a rally to slice the lead to nine, 48-39, on consecutive three-point baskets by Cummings. The Bears continued to turn up the defensive pressure and slowly but surely clawed their way back into the game. Five straight points by Dimitrijevic drew Mercer to within five at 49-44 with 10:24 remaining. Harvard then scored the game's next five points to go back up by 10, 54-44. The Crimson's lead grew to 13 before the Bears fought back to close the advantage to 60-51 with 4:44 remaining. Mercer kept fighting and came within four, 69-65, on a three-pointer by Dimitrijevic with 20 ticks of the clock remaining. Harvard connected in a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to help seal the victory for the Crimson.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Junior guard Ross Cummings led all scorers with 21 points on six of 12 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from three point range.
NOTABLES
- Junior guard Djordje Dimitrijevic came off the bench to help fuel the Mercer comeback, scoring 16 points, hitting all five of his field goals, in 19 minutes of action.
- Freshman Fardaws Aimaq also turned in a solid performance off the bench, with a career-high 11 points, including his first career three-point basket, and a team-high six rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time.
- Mercer outscored Harvard 39-30 in the second half.
- Jaylen Stowe had his streak of five consecutive games of scoring in double figures snapped, as the senior guard tallied seven points on the afternoon.
- Following a cold first half of shooting (40%), the Bears rebounded to hit 56.5% of their shots in the second half to finish the game hitting 47.9% from the floor.
- Harvard connected on six more three point baskets (12) than Mercer (6).
- Mercer displayed some ball-hawking defense in the second half and had 10 steals on the afternoon. Ethan Stair led the way with three thefts.
- Mercer outscored the Crimson 28-18 in the paint.
QUOTABLES
Coach Bob Hoffman – "We looked like we'd been off a long time in the first half. It didn't seem like we had much energy at the beginning. We showed a lot more fight in the second half; we were much better the final 20 minutes. Every possession is a learning experience for us. I still have a lot of faith in these guys and believe we are continuing to grow as a team. That was a good team we played today. They are talented, play well together and are well coached. We continued to battle back; we've done that in a lot of games. While I like that aspect of our team, I don't particularly like the outcome. It was a good experience playing here; I appreciate the administration and the work they did to help make this happen. We had a good crowd here, too. We just need to keep digging and improving; we have two very tough conference road games coming up next week (at Furman and at Wofford)."
RECORDS UPDATE
- Mercer: (5-8, 0-1 SoCon)
- Harvard : (6-5, 0-0 Ivy League)
Mercer resumes Southern Conference play with a two-game road swing that starts this Thursday, Jan. 3 against Furman in Greenville, S.C. Tipoff time at Timmons arena is 7 p.m. (ET). Two days later on Jan. 5, the Bears square off against Wofford in Spartanburg, S.C., with the start time set for 7 p.m. (ET) at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
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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