Mercer University
5-8,0-1SoCon
Florida Atlantic
-84,00 CUSA
Men’s Basketball Falls to FAU
12/22/2019 9:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Ethan Stair led the Bears with 15 points in the loss
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's basketball team struggled from behind the arc, as they shot 3-for-17 on threes, in a 65-50 loss to Florida Atlantic on Sunday evening at Hawkins Arena.
Ethan Stair led the Bears with 15 points on the day. Djordje Dimitrijevic followed with nine points. The Bears shot 35.8 percent from the floor but were 17 percent on three-pointers for the contest. Mercer committed 17 turnovers.
Opening up the game, the Bears struggled shooting the ball as they were held to six points over the first five minutes. Mercer continued to put pressure on the Owls as they only led by two, 8-6, after the first five minutes. Mercer looked to get the offense going after Ross Cummings hit a three-pointer that put Mercer ahead 9-8.
With the Bears down 16-11 with 9:43 left in the first half, Dimitrijevic hit a three-pointer trimming the lead to two, 16-14. After the three, Mercers' offense went scoreless for a five-minute drought and they found themselves down 21-14, with 4:04 left in the half.
FAU stretched the lead to as many as 10, 28-18, in the first half. A three-point play by Jeff Gary put the Bears down seven, 28-21, late in the half. The Owls hit a three-pointer at the buzzer and took a 31-21 lead into halftime.
Coming out of halftime, a jumper by Dimitrijevic put Mercer down six, 33-27, with 17:26 to go in the game. Again, the Bears offense went scoreless for five minutes but the Owls could not stretch the lead.
A layup by Cummings put the Bears down seven, 36-29, however following the layup the Bears went scoreless for three more minutes. During this stretch, the Owls grew its lead to 15 points, 44-29, after a Cornelius Taylor three.
Fifteen points was the largest lead of the game for the Owls. Late in the second half, the Bears went on a 6-0 run cutting the Owls lead down to six, 50-44. However, the Owls answered with back-to-back three-pointers growing the lead back to double-figures. Mercer could not get it within double-figures for the remainder of the game and were defeated 65-50 by Florida Atlantic.
QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "We just didn't come out ready and I was trying to get them going. We were sleepwalking and that's something you can't do especially when FAU has some good players. We have to be locked in and we were not right away. We were not getting good looks. They were contested threes and when you don't cut hard and you don't try to get your teammate a shot, that's what going to happen."
NOTABLES
· Mercer hit three three-pointers in the contest against FAU. This is the lowest made threes this season in a single contest.
· Ethan Stair scored 15 points to lead the Bears.
· The Bears committed 17 turnovers in the contest.
· Mercer scored 26 of its points in the paint against FAU.
UP NEXT
The Bears close out its three-game home stand on Saturday, Dec. 28 when they host Milligan. The contest is set to tip at 1 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.
