Stair Records a Double-Double in Loss to Canisius

Sunday, December 1

Boca Raton, Fla.

12 p.m.

Mercer University

4-4

Canisius

4-2

Canisius

Mercer

Stair Records a Double-Double in Loss to Canisius

12/1/2019 3:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Ethan Stair recorded his third straight double-double

By: Travis Rae

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Mercer men's basketball team dropped its second straight contest on Sunday afternoon as they were defeated 76-66 by Canisius. In the contest, Ethan Stair recorded his third straight double-double as he scored 17 points and collected 10 rebounds.

Stair's double-double is his the fifth of the season, which leads the Southern Conference. Djordje Dimitrijevic followed with 16 points. Victor Bafutto and Maciej Bender followed with 12 and 10 points respectfully. Mercer shot 40.7 percent in the contest, while Canisius shot 50.9 percent.

The Bears and Griffins came out trading buckets and after the five minutes into the game, the contest was tied at 6-6. Mercer slowly stretched the lead to seven, 13-6, after a layup by Bafutto. The seven-point lead was the largest lead the Bears had in the first half.

After the Griffins took the lead down to three, 14-11, the Bears grew the lead back to seven, 18-11, after a fast-break layup by Bafutto. Following his layup, Mercer went scoreless for three minutes and found themselves down three, 21-18, before Bender hit a layup trimming the lead down to one, 21-20.

After a pair of free throws by Stair tied the game at 31-31, the Griffins outscored the Bears 7-3 over the final two minutes and Mercer trailed 38-34 at halftime.

Coming out of halftime, Mercer slowly started to pick up momentum as a jumper by Stair and Bafutto followed with a three-point play and Mercer and Canisius found themselves tied at 42-42. Following the tie game, the Griffins slowly grew the lead back to eight points, 52-44.

Mercer did not go away as they went on an 8-0 run that tied the game at 52-52 after a Daniel Love layup. With the score tied at 54-54, Stair hit an old-fashion three-point play putting the Bears ahead, 57-54, with 8:05 left. This was the first lead for Mercer since 18-17.

Canisius battled back and took the lead at 59-57, but the Bears tied the game at 59-59 with 5:55 left. The Griffins took the lead and slowly grew the lead to five, 65-60. Love would hit a three-pointer putting the Bears down two with 3:36 left in the contest. This would be as close as Mercer would get as they were defeated 76-66 by Canisius.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "We have to learn to do our job in difficult situations and in the last five minutes of the game you have to be able to do your job and stick with your rules. You then have to show some toughness to get some rebounds and finish at the rim through contact."

NOTABLES

Ethan Stair recorded his third-straight double-double and fifth double-double of the season against Canisius. He entered the season with two career double-doubles.
Stair led the Bears with 17 points against Canisius. This is his sixth game this season leading the Bears in scoring.
Victor Bafutto scored a season-high 12 points on five-of-eight shooting. This was his second career double-figure contest. His first came on Feb. 14, 2019, when he scored 13 points at Westerm Carolina.
The Bears recorded nine steals against the Griffins. Patrick Urey and Ethan Stair led the team with three steals each.
Mercer had four players scoring in double-figures. Against UIC on Nov. 23, was the last time the Bears had four score in double-figures.

UP NEXT
The Bears close out the Boca Raton Beach Classic by playing Holy Cross at 11 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 2 from FAU Arena.

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