Monday, March 19
Denton, TX
8 P.M.
Mercer University
19-15
67
at
96
North Texas
17-17
1
2
F
Mercer
31
36
67
North Texas
47
49
96
Team Stats
MER
NT
FG%
.354
.559
3FG%
.192
.414
FT%
.889
.692
RB
33
39
TO
13
10
STL
3
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
25
FGM
9
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Bears Fall To Red-Hot Shooting North Texas Team In CBI
3/19/2018 10:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DENTON, Texas – North Texas shot 56% from the field and knocked down 12 three point baskets to post a 96-67 victory at home over the Mercer Bears in the quarterfinal round of the College Basketball Invitational Monday night on the Mean Green's home floor.
Mercer was unable to get its offense going for much of the night as the Bears hit just 36% from the floor and made just five of 25 attempts from beyond the three point arc. Senior guard Jordan Strawberry led Mercer in scoring with 25 points, connecting on nine of 18 field goal attempts, while senior post man Desmond Ringer turned in a double-double performance with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
UNT was led by Roosevelt Smart and Jorden Duffy, both of whom scored 31 points apiece. Smart also grabbed 11 rebounds.
North Texas took a 3-2 lead at the 18:23 mark of the first half and never trailed the remainder of the game. The Mean Green were red shot from the field and following an 11-4 run opened up a 23-10 lead with 11:50 left in the half. Leading 30-20 at the 7:42 mark, North Texas proceeded to go on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to extend the lead to 42-20. Mercer's Strawberry tried to keep the Bears in the game with 14 first half points and Mercer went into the locker room trailing 47-31 at the break. UNT was torrid shooting the basketball in the first half, connecting on 16 of 33 field goals (48.5%), including seven of 17 from three point land. The Mean Green's Smart led all scorers with 18 first half points. Mercer on the other hand, was cold offensively, as the Bears shot only 32.3% from the field (10-31) and three of 11 (27.3%) from behind the three point arc in the opening 20 minutes.
North Texas started fast the second half, going up 61-36 at the 16:47 mark. Mercer then made its best run of the game, scoring 11 unanswered points to trim the lead to 61-47 on a pair of free throws by Ringer with 12:45 remaining. The Mean Green proceeded to go on an 8-0 run of their own to go back up by 22 at 69-47 and the Bears were battling uphill the rest of the contest.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Playing in his final game as a Mercer Bear, senior guard Jordan Strawberry led the team with 25 points on nine of 18 shooting from the field and five of five from the free throw line. Strawberry also handed out two assists.
NOTABLES
Mercer concludes its 2017-18 season with a 19-15 record, having won nine of its last 11 games. North Texas continues play in the CBI with a semi-final matchup Wednesday night in Denton against an opponent yet to be determined
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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Mercer was unable to get its offense going for much of the night as the Bears hit just 36% from the floor and made just five of 25 attempts from beyond the three point arc. Senior guard Jordan Strawberry led Mercer in scoring with 25 points, connecting on nine of 18 field goal attempts, while senior post man Desmond Ringer turned in a double-double performance with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
UNT was led by Roosevelt Smart and Jorden Duffy, both of whom scored 31 points apiece. Smart also grabbed 11 rebounds.
North Texas took a 3-2 lead at the 18:23 mark of the first half and never trailed the remainder of the game. The Mean Green were red shot from the field and following an 11-4 run opened up a 23-10 lead with 11:50 left in the half. Leading 30-20 at the 7:42 mark, North Texas proceeded to go on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to extend the lead to 42-20. Mercer's Strawberry tried to keep the Bears in the game with 14 first half points and Mercer went into the locker room trailing 47-31 at the break. UNT was torrid shooting the basketball in the first half, connecting on 16 of 33 field goals (48.5%), including seven of 17 from three point land. The Mean Green's Smart led all scorers with 18 first half points. Mercer on the other hand, was cold offensively, as the Bears shot only 32.3% from the field (10-31) and three of 11 (27.3%) from behind the three point arc in the opening 20 minutes.
North Texas started fast the second half, going up 61-36 at the 16:47 mark. Mercer then made its best run of the game, scoring 11 unanswered points to trim the lead to 61-47 on a pair of free throws by Ringer with 12:45 remaining. The Mean Green proceeded to go on an 8-0 run of their own to go back up by 22 at 69-47 and the Bears were battling uphill the rest of the contest.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Playing in his final game as a Mercer Bear, senior guard Jordan Strawberry led the team with 25 points on nine of 18 shooting from the field and five of five from the free throw line. Strawberry also handed out two assists.
NOTABLES
- Strawberry finishes his Mercer career with 1,200 points and 494 assists. He ranks 18th on the Bears' all-time scoring charts and third on the school's career assists list. He is only the third player in Mercer men's basketball history to score more than 1,000 points and hand out more than 400 assists in a career.
- Stephon Jelks concludes his Mercer career with 1,113 career points and 844 career rebounds. He ranks 29th on the school's all-time scoring list and third on the career rebounding chart. Jelks is just one of three Mercer players to score more than 1,000 career points and grab more than 800 career rebounds.
- Demetre Rivers likewise joined the 1,000-point club this season and the senior forward concludes his Mercer career with 1,065 points, 32nd best in school history.
- Ria'n Holland saw his string of 17 straight games scoring in double figures this season snapped. The senior guard, who returned last week against Grand Canyon from a hand injury he suffered Jan. 18 on the road at VMI, tallied just two points on the night. He scored in double figures in 44 of his 50 career games as a Mercer Bear.
- Â Mercer is now 9-7 in postseason tournament games and is 2-2 in CBI tournament games. The Bears made their sixth postseason tournament appearance in the past seven seasons.
"Our guys competed so hard down the stretch of the season. The way we finished the year was an amazing run. How we fought and got back in so many games and found ways to win. We got beat by a good team tonight and we didn't respond very well. They made the shots and the separation was too much to overcome. I love how our guys competed and that's exactly what we did these last two months. It was so fun to watch them find ways to win. The seniors have been so special in who they are and how they carry themselves and represented our program and university. We are blessed that they are graduating and they will do tremendous things as they move on from Mercer with that diploma." -Head Coach Bob Hoffman
RECORDS UPDATE- Mercer:Â (19-15, 11-7 SoCon)
- North Texas:Â (17-17, 8-10 WAC)
Mercer concludes its 2017-18 season with a 19-15 record, having won nine of its last 11 games. North Texas continues play in the CBI with a semi-final matchup Wednesday night in Denton against an opponent yet to be determined
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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