Saturday, January 5
Spartanburg, S.C.
7 p.m.
Mercer University
74
at
78
Wofford
1
2
F
Mercer
31
43
74
Wofford
39
39
78
Team Stats
M-406
M-2915
FG%
.533
.558
3FG%
.467
.417
FT%
.864
.714
RB
15
26
TO
17
17
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
21
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
7
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Judy Stapleton
Mercer Battles To The End In 78-74 SoCon Loss At Wofford
1/5/2019 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Cummings and Dimitrijevic score 21 points apiece for the Bears
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer battled league-leading Wofford to the very end before falling 78-74 Saturday night at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
Mercer's Ross Cummings and Djordje Dimitrijevic led all scorers with 21 points apiece. The Bears' Ethan Stair scored a career-high 16 points as Mercer shot 53.3% from the field on the night. Wofford's Fletcher Magee, the all-time leading three-point shooter in Southern Conference history, led the Terriers with 20 points while Cameron Jackson tallied 16 points and pulled down six rebounds.
Mercer came out battling hard from the very beginning. The Bears took a 14-11 lead at the 14:11 mark on back-to-back baskets by Dimitrijevic. Following a three-pointer by Cummings, Wofford regained the lead on a bucket by Jackson at the 7:16 mark. Both teams exchanged baskets over the next several minutes before Wofford went ahead 29-27 on a Matt Pegram jumper with 4:09 left in the first half. The Terriers ended the half on a 10-4 run to take a 39-31 advantage at intermission.
Wofford extended its lead to 11, 46-35, with 16:02 left in the game. Mercer's offense then caught fire and the Bears went on an 11-0 run to move ahead 47-46 on a pair of technical foul free throws by Cummings with 13:16 remaining. The Terriers regrouped to go on a 15-5 run and move out in front 61-52 at the 8:58 mark. Consecutive three point baskets by Cummings and Stair shaved the lead to 61-58 with 7:40 to go. Wofford's Magee turned in a four-point play at the 5:34 mark when he drained a three-point basket, was fouled by Marcus Cohen, and sank the free throw to give the Terriers a 67-60 lead.
As they have throughout the season, the Bears displayed grit and resiliency down the stretch. Trailing 69-62 with five minutes remaining, Mercer went on an 8-0 run, culminated by a Jaylen Stowe basket at the 3:08 mark, to take a 70-69 lead. It was Mercer's first lead since midway through the opening half. Magee hit a contested three at the 2:50 mark to give Wofford the lead back, 72-70. Dimitrijevic knocked down a fade away jumper with 2:23 left to knot the score at 72-72. Jackson then hit one of two free throws to put Wofford ahead 73-72. Following a Mercer turnover, Magee hit another big three with 38 seconds to give Wofford a 76-72 lead. Dimitrijevic's two free throws cut the lead to 76-74. Wofford sank a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left to make the score 78-74. Mercer misfired on a couple of three point attempts in the closing seconds and the Terriers hung on for the hard-fought victory.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ross Cummings, Mercer's leading scorer on the season, tallied 21 points. Cummings was 5-7 from the field, including 4-5 from behind the arc, and was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
NOTABLES
Coach Bob Hoffman – "We competed very well for about 34 minutes tonight, but you can't do that against a good team like Wofford. We had some guys show some toughness and we got some guys banged up, that's for sure. We thought we could put some full court pressure on them and mix up our defenses. That worked pretty well for us. We fought like crazy, we wanted to win, and really, I think our guys deserved this win. It was an amazing effort, I will say that. Jaylen (Stowe) is playing like a man; he really wants to win. Two tough games in a row on the road; we just didn't get it done. I told our guys they fought really hard; we weren't backing down, they were trying to take the game to them. Somebody has to make a play at the end for us. We just have to continue to build; hopefully we can take something away from this game and grow from it."
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer has its first home Southern Conference contest Thursday, Jan. 10 against the Western Carolina Catamounts. Start time at Hawkins Arena is 7 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.
Mercer's Ross Cummings and Djordje Dimitrijevic led all scorers with 21 points apiece. The Bears' Ethan Stair scored a career-high 16 points as Mercer shot 53.3% from the field on the night. Wofford's Fletcher Magee, the all-time leading three-point shooter in Southern Conference history, led the Terriers with 20 points while Cameron Jackson tallied 16 points and pulled down six rebounds.
Mercer came out battling hard from the very beginning. The Bears took a 14-11 lead at the 14:11 mark on back-to-back baskets by Dimitrijevic. Following a three-pointer by Cummings, Wofford regained the lead on a bucket by Jackson at the 7:16 mark. Both teams exchanged baskets over the next several minutes before Wofford went ahead 29-27 on a Matt Pegram jumper with 4:09 left in the first half. The Terriers ended the half on a 10-4 run to take a 39-31 advantage at intermission.
Wofford extended its lead to 11, 46-35, with 16:02 left in the game. Mercer's offense then caught fire and the Bears went on an 11-0 run to move ahead 47-46 on a pair of technical foul free throws by Cummings with 13:16 remaining. The Terriers regrouped to go on a 15-5 run and move out in front 61-52 at the 8:58 mark. Consecutive three point baskets by Cummings and Stair shaved the lead to 61-58 with 7:40 to go. Wofford's Magee turned in a four-point play at the 5:34 mark when he drained a three-point basket, was fouled by Marcus Cohen, and sank the free throw to give the Terriers a 67-60 lead.
As they have throughout the season, the Bears displayed grit and resiliency down the stretch. Trailing 69-62 with five minutes remaining, Mercer went on an 8-0 run, culminated by a Jaylen Stowe basket at the 3:08 mark, to take a 70-69 lead. It was Mercer's first lead since midway through the opening half. Magee hit a contested three at the 2:50 mark to give Wofford the lead back, 72-70. Dimitrijevic knocked down a fade away jumper with 2:23 left to knot the score at 72-72. Jackson then hit one of two free throws to put Wofford ahead 73-72. Following a Mercer turnover, Magee hit another big three with 38 seconds to give Wofford a 76-72 lead. Dimitrijevic's two free throws cut the lead to 76-74. Wofford sank a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left to make the score 78-74. Mercer misfired on a couple of three point attempts in the closing seconds and the Terriers hung on for the hard-fought victory.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ross Cummings, Mercer's leading scorer on the season, tallied 21 points. Cummings was 5-7 from the field, including 4-5 from behind the arc, and was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
NOTABLES
- Guard Djordje Dimitrijevic once again came off the bench and provided a stellar performance for the Bears. The junior from Serbia tied Cummings for high point honors with 21 on 8-14 shooting from the field and 4-4 marksmanship from the charity stripe.
- Ethan Stair scored a career-high 16 points, pulled down four rebounds and had two steals. Stair was 5-7 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line.
- Jaylen Stowe battled hard on the boards and led Mercer with six rebounds.
- Mercer knocked down 19 of 22 free throw attempts (86.4%).
- Wofford outrebounded the smaller Bears 26-15.
- Both teams committed 17 turnovers.
Coach Bob Hoffman – "We competed very well for about 34 minutes tonight, but you can't do that against a good team like Wofford. We had some guys show some toughness and we got some guys banged up, that's for sure. We thought we could put some full court pressure on them and mix up our defenses. That worked pretty well for us. We fought like crazy, we wanted to win, and really, I think our guys deserved this win. It was an amazing effort, I will say that. Jaylen (Stowe) is playing like a man; he really wants to win. Two tough games in a row on the road; we just didn't get it done. I told our guys they fought really hard; we weren't backing down, they were trying to take the game to them. Somebody has to make a play at the end for us. We just have to continue to build; hopefully we can take something away from this game and grow from it."
RECORDS UPDATE
- Mercer: (5-10, 0-3 SoCon)
- Wofford : (12-4, 4-0 SoCon)
Mercer has its first home Southern Conference contest Thursday, Jan. 10 against the Western Carolina Catamounts. Start time at Hawkins Arena is 7 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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