Mercer Secures 74-65 Road Win At WCU

Thursday, February 14

Cullowhee, N.C.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

9-16, 4-9SoCon

Western Carolina

6-21, 3-11SoCon

Mercer

Western Carolina

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

2/14/2019 10:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Cummings’ 18 points along with strong play from newcomers power Bears to victory

By: Will Tharp

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Ross Cummings scored a game-high 18 points and combined with a solid contribution from a host of Mercer newcomers to lead the Bears to a 74-65 road victory over Western Carolina Thursday night.

All 10 Mercer players that dressed contributed valuable minutes to help determine the outcome of the game. Sophomore center Victor Bafutto tallied a career-high 13 points, with 11 of those coming in the opening half when Mercer built up a 40-25 halftime advantage. Freshmen Daniel Love, CJ Williamson and Luke Hamilton all scored six points apiece as the Bears' newcomers came to play Thursday night. Western Carolina had four players score in double figures, led by Kameron Gibson's 16 points. Carlos Dotson turned in a double-double performance with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Western Carolina ran out to an early 8-0 lead, prompting Mercer coach Bob Hoffman to turn to his bench. Baffuto scored Mercer's first basket of the game with a jumper in the paint at the 16:30 mark. That ignited an 11-0 Mercer run with Ethan Stair's basket at the 11:53 mark giving the Bears an 11-8 lead. Trailing 22-19 with 7:38 remaining in the opening half, Mercer went on a 17-0 run to ease ahead 36-22 with 2:58 in the first half. The Bears led 40-25 at the break.

WCU's offense picked up the pace in the second half and the Catamounts cut the lead to seven at 54-47 with 10:05 remaining. WCU kept whittling at the lead and Marcus Thomas' layup at the 5:37 mark sliced the lead to three at 61-58 with 5:37 left. Mercer's Love and Williamson both made key plays down the stretch and Cummings knocked down some pressure free throws to give Mercer the 74-65 victory, snapping a four-game losing streak.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ross Cummings scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to pace the Bears' offensive attack.

NOTABLES

Freshman guard Daniel Love played perhaps his finest game as a Mercer Bear, scoring six points, grabbing five rebounds, handing out five assists and coming up with two steals.
Victor Bafutto scored a career-high 13 points in just 16 minutes of action, hitting six of nine shots from the field.
Freshman guard CJ Williamson contributed six points and had four rebounds.
Freshman forward Luke Hamilton came off the bench to score six points.
Mercer shot 51% from the field (29-57), 16.7% from three point range (3-18), and 76.5% from the free throw line (13-17).

QUOTABLES
Coach Bob Hoffman – "Everybody gave us some energy. We had multiple guys make some big plays tonight. They (Western Carolina) were a tough out and we knew they would be. I thought Daniel Love was really good; he got a big steal there late in the game. I need to get a better job of finding these guys some minutes. I thought tonight we were really gritty. We have a lot of new guys; it's late in the season and we're trying to find ways to win games. I made the decision that we were going to sub early and sub when necessary."

RECORDS UPDATE

Mercer: (9-16, 4-9 SoCon)
Western Carolina : (6-21, 3-11 SoCon)

Up Next
Mercer continues its two-game SoCon road swing by traveling to Johnson City, Tenn., to take on the East Tennessee State Buccaneers Saturday, Feb. 16. Tipoff time at Freedom Hall is 4 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.