Bears Win Peach State Showdown

Monday, November 11

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

2-1,0-0SoCon

Kennesaw State

0-3,0-0ASUN

Team	1	2	F
Kennesaw St.	19	43	62
Mercer	31	43	74

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

11/11/2019 10:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer defeats Kennesaw State, 74-62, on Monday night

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – Meeting on the hardwood for the first time since, Dec. 28, 2017, the Mercer men's basketball team won the Peach State Showdown, 74-62, over Kennesaw State on Monday evening at Hawkins Arena.

Ethan Stair led the Bears with 21 points. Djordje Dimitrijevic followed with 16 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Ross Cummings came off the bench and scored 14 points to round out the double-figure scorers.

Both teams came out struggling to score in the contest as over the first five and half minutes of the game, the teams combined for nine points. Mercer (2-1) took its first lead of the game with 12:10 left in the first half when Victor Bafutto made a jumper in the paint.

Mercer slowly stretched the lead to double-figures and a three by Ethan Stair put the Bears ahead 18-8 lead with 6:39 left in the first half. Mercer grew the lead to as many as 14 points in the half but a jumper by Kennesaw States (0-3) Drew Romich trimmed the lead down to 12, 31-19, heading to halftime.

Opening the second half of play, a fastback layup by Stair grew the lead to 17 points, 36-19, for the Bears. Mercer continued to hold onto a double-figure lead in the half and after a three by Stair, the Bears led by 16, 45-29.

Mercer did not let the Owls get trim the lead to single-digits for the remainder of the contest. With 4:43 left in the second half, Kamar Robertson hit a jumper in the paint putting Mercer ahead, 64-50. The Owls got as close as 10, 71-61, after a three by Danny Lewis but that would be as close as they would get as Mercer came away with a 74-62 victory.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "We plugged the gaps and helped each other and had clean switches on the defensive end against Kennesaw State to keep the Owls offense out of the paint in the first half. We got away from what we were doing in the second half and they got to the basket."

NOTABLES

For the first time since, Dec. 28, 2017, the Mercer Bears and Kennesaw State Owls met on the hardwood. The Bears improved its winning streak to eight straight with a 74-62 victory.
Djordje Dimitrijevic finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the contest for his first career double-double.
Ross Cummings appeared in his first game of the season against Kennesaw State. He came off the bench and scored 14 points as he hit four three-pointers. For his career, he has made 166 three-pointers, the fourth most in program history. EJ Kusnyer who has 190 holds third place.
The Bars shot 81.5 percent (22-for-27) from the free throw line for the contest. This is the first time since Jan. 26, 2019 the Bears shot over 80 percent from the free throw line in a contest.
Mercer made 22 field goals in the contest and assisted on 16.
Mercer improves to 2-0 on the season at Hawkins Arena. The Bears have won 52 of 75 games dating back to the 2014-15 season.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Friday, Nov. 15 when they host Florida Gulf Coast University at Hawkins Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. The matchup between the Bears and Eagles will be the first between the two programs since, March 9, 2014.

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