Dimitrijevic and Stair Lead Bears Past UNCW

Monday, December 16

Wilmington, N.C.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

5-6,0-0SoCon

UNC Wilmington

5-7,0-0CAA

Mercer

UNCW

12/16/2019 10:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Stair recorded his sixth double-double of the season

By: Travis Rae

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Mercer men's basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak as they defeated the University of North Carolina Wilmington, 72-63, on Monday night in Wilmington, N.C.

Djordje Dimitrijevic led the way for the Bears with 23 points. Ethan Stair tallied 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Jeff Gary tallied 10 points for the Bears. Mercer hit 11 three-pointers in the win and shot 40.6 percent from the floor.

The Bears and Seahawks opened the contest by trading baskets and neither team could take control of the game. With the Bears down one, 9-8, Stair hit back-to-back three-pointers putting the Bears ahead, 14-9. Mercer slowly grew the lead to seven, 22-15, after a Gary three.

Over the next few minutes, the Bears saw its lead cut to two, 29-27, after a Jaylen Sims three-pointer with 6:28 to go before halftime. Two minutes later, Sims hit another three-pointer and tied the game at 31-31. Over the final four minutes of the first half, Mercer outscored UNCW, 6-4, taking a 37-35, lead into halftime.

The Seahawks scored the first bucket of the second half before they went scoreless for a four-minute drought. During that time, the Bears offense heated up as they went on a 13-0 run capped off by a Gary fast-break layup. With 16 minutes to go in the contest, Mercer led 50-37.

Mercer stretched its lead to a game-high 14 points, with 12:02 left, as Stair hit a jumper in the paint. Over the next five minutes, the Bears lead of 12 was down to four points after a Marten Linssen dunk. A fast-break layup by Daniel Love put the Bears ahead by eight.

The Bears did not let the Seahawks get closer than five points for the remainder of the game. Mercer extended its lead to nine points twice during the final six minutes of the game. Over the final 30 seconds of the contest, Mercer went four-for-four from the free throw line to seal the victory. Mercer came away with a 72-63 victory over UNCW.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "Wow! That was a lot of fun! Our guys fought and we made some mistakes but we found a way to win. I told them in the locker room I could see that even though they made mistakes, they were poised, and I could see it in their eyes that we were going to close this game out. I'm very proud of them. We fought back, then we make it a game, and that is what you do on the road. The home team usually comes back a little bit but I was proud of the way they just fought and stuck with it."

On Stair and Dimitrijevic
"I didn't realize he (Stair) had 16 rebounds. That's phenomenal for a guy his size. He's just got tremendous heart and he just has a feel for the ball and that's just hard to teach. You have to have a nose for it but he showed a lot of toughness. I thought Djordje played a fantastic game. I know he shot the ball well too but he has five assists and zero turnovers. When we can start limiting our turnovers, because we have some pretty good offensive weapons, then it puts stress on the other team's defenses."

NOTABLES

Ethan Stair collected a career-high 16 rebounds in the contest against the Seahawks. He is the first player since Stephon Jelks on Jan. 9, 2016 to record 15 or more rebounds in a game.
The Bears hit 11 three-pointers as a team. This was the first time since Nov. 6 against St. John's the Bears have hit over 10 three-pointers in a contest. Five different players hit a three in the win.
The win for the Bears snapped a four-game losing streak.
Mercer picked up 18 assists on 26 made baskets against UNCW
Djordje Dimitrijevic led the Bears with 23 points and tallied five rebounds and five assists in the contest.
Making his first appearance of the season, Jeff Gary came off the bench and tallied 10 points for the Bears.
The Bears improve to 8-3 in non-conference contests against teams from the state of North Carolina.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Friday, Dec. 20 when they host Furman in the Bears Southern Conference opener. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. from Hawkins Arena.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer 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.