Thursday, January 3
Greenville, S.C.
7 p.m.
Mercer University
5-9, 0-2SoCon
58
at
71
Furman
13-2, 2-1SoCon
1
2
F
Mercer
26
32
58
Furman
35
36
71
Team Stats
MER
FUR
FG%
.362
.463
3FG%
.211
.357
FT%
.571
.647
RB
36
37
TO
14
15
STL
11
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Judy Stapleton
Mercer Falls On The Road To Furman 71-58
1/3/2019 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Stair and Dimitrijevic pace scoring attack with 15 points apiece
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Mercer wasn't able to overcome an early second half scoring drought falling 71-58 to Furman Thursday night in a Southern Conference road contest at Timmons Arena.
Â
Ethan Stair and Djordje Dimitrijevic led the Mercer offense, each scoring 15 points on the evening. Ross Cummings, Mercer's leading scorer on the season, tallied 10 points to round out the double figure scorers for the Bears.
Â
Furman senior forward Matt Rafferty had a double-double for the Paladins, leading all scorers with 19 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Furman's Clay Mounce was the game's leading rebounder with 11 boards.
Â
Furman jumped out to an early 14-6 lead on a three-point jumper by Andrew Brown at the 13:36 mark of the first half. The Bears went on a 10-2 run to tie the score at 16-16 on a basket from Dimetrijevic with 8:35 remaining. The game was tied once again at 19-19 at the 5:29 mark before the Paladins started to heat up on the offensive end and took a nine point lead, 30-21, on a three-pointer from Noah Gurley with 2:39 left in the half. Furman led 35-26 at the half.
Â
Furman scored the second half's first bucket on a layup by Alex Hunter at the 19-minute mark to stretch the lead to 11. The Bears clawed back to slice the lead to six, 40-34, with 14:04 remaining. Mercer then went nearly nine minutes without a field goal, as Furman went on a 16-3 run to extend the lead to 19. Dimitrijevic's layup at the 6:36 mark finally broke the field goal drought for the Bears. Mercer mounted a rally behind the scoring of Stair, Dimitrijevic and Cummings to draw within seven, 65-58, with 2:25 left in the contest. Furman sank its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 71-58 victory.
Â
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ethan Stair played 38 minutes, equaling his career-high with 15 points. Stair also grabbed four rebounds, had two assists and two steals.
Â
NOTABLES
QUOTABLES
Coach Bob Hoffman – "We put forth a really good effort, but the first 8-10 minutes of the second half, we probably shot like 10 percent from the field and we can't do that against good teams like Furman. We shot free throws poorly again tonight and we had a few 0-2's and that's like committing a turnover. We must improve upon that. It's a mindset that we have to become better with. They made 10 three point baskets and we made four, and that's a big difference in the outcome of this ballgame. We've got another tough road game on Saturday; we know they're (Wofford) going to be good, but we'll be ready and we'll work on becoming better tomorrow."
Â
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer concludes its two-game SoCon road swing in the Palmetto State by playing Wofford Saturday, Jan. 5 in Spartanburg. Start time is 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.
Â
Â
Ethan Stair and Djordje Dimitrijevic led the Mercer offense, each scoring 15 points on the evening. Ross Cummings, Mercer's leading scorer on the season, tallied 10 points to round out the double figure scorers for the Bears.
Â
Furman senior forward Matt Rafferty had a double-double for the Paladins, leading all scorers with 19 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Furman's Clay Mounce was the game's leading rebounder with 11 boards.
Â
Furman jumped out to an early 14-6 lead on a three-point jumper by Andrew Brown at the 13:36 mark of the first half. The Bears went on a 10-2 run to tie the score at 16-16 on a basket from Dimetrijevic with 8:35 remaining. The game was tied once again at 19-19 at the 5:29 mark before the Paladins started to heat up on the offensive end and took a nine point lead, 30-21, on a three-pointer from Noah Gurley with 2:39 left in the half. Furman led 35-26 at the half.
Â
Furman scored the second half's first bucket on a layup by Alex Hunter at the 19-minute mark to stretch the lead to 11. The Bears clawed back to slice the lead to six, 40-34, with 14:04 remaining. Mercer then went nearly nine minutes without a field goal, as Furman went on a 16-3 run to extend the lead to 19. Dimitrijevic's layup at the 6:36 mark finally broke the field goal drought for the Bears. Mercer mounted a rally behind the scoring of Stair, Dimitrijevic and Cummings to draw within seven, 65-58, with 2:25 left in the contest. Furman sank its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 71-58 victory.
Â
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ethan Stair played 38 minutes, equaling his career-high with 15 points. Stair also grabbed four rebounds, had two assists and two steals.
Â
NOTABLES
- Guard Djordje Dimitrijevic came off the bench to score 15 points. The junior from Serbia knocked down five of 11 shots from the floor, pulled down five rebounds, handed out two assists and had one steal.
- Ross Cummings went for 10 points and was a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe.
- Cory Kilby pulled down a team-high six rebounds on the night and scored seven points.
- Mercer outscored Furman 20-14 in bench points.
- The Bears hit four three point baskets while the Paladins knocked down 10.
- Mercer came into the contest shooting nearly 71% from the free throw line but only connected on 57.1% (12-21) against the Paladins.
QUOTABLES
Coach Bob Hoffman – "We put forth a really good effort, but the first 8-10 minutes of the second half, we probably shot like 10 percent from the field and we can't do that against good teams like Furman. We shot free throws poorly again tonight and we had a few 0-2's and that's like committing a turnover. We must improve upon that. It's a mindset that we have to become better with. They made 10 three point baskets and we made four, and that's a big difference in the outcome of this ballgame. We've got another tough road game on Saturday; we know they're (Wofford) going to be good, but we'll be ready and we'll work on becoming better tomorrow."
Â
RECORDS UPDATE
- Mercer:Â (5-9, 0-2 SoCon)
- Furman :Â (13-2, 2-1 SoCon)
Mercer concludes its two-game SoCon road swing in the Palmetto State by playing Wofford Saturday, Jan. 5 in Spartanburg. Start time is 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.
Â
Press Conference Mercer Football (Week 5 vs East Tennessee State)
Tuesday, September 23
Mercer 38, Citadel 0 | Postgame Press Conference (9/20/25)
Saturday, September 20
Mercer v U.T. Martin VB Highlight Reel: 9/20/2025
Saturday, September 20
Mercer v North Dakota VB Highlight Reel: 9/19/2025
Saturday, September 20
