Bears Travel to WCU For Southern Conference Action

Saturday, January 11

Cullowhee, N.C.

5 p.m.

Mercer University

Western Carolina

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

Bears Travel to WCU For Southern Conference Action

1/10/2020 10:45:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Mercer Game Notes

Mercer returns to action on Saturday at Western Carolina

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's basketball team returns to the court on Saturday, Jan. 11 when they travel to Cullowhee, N.C. to face Western Carolina in Southern Conference action. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. from the Ramsey Center.

GAME DAY LINEUP
Date: Jan. 11, 2020 | 5 p.m. (ET)
Teams: Mercer (6-10) at Western Carolina (11-3)
Location: Cullowhee, N.C. | Ramsey Center
Live Stats: CatamountSports.com
Radio: 100.9 The Creek FM and SportsMic – Rick Cameron
TV: ESPN+
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

SERIES HISTORY
• Overall: Mercer trails the all-time series, 9-8
• Current Streak: W3
• Last Meeting: W, 74-65 (Feb. 14, 2019)

OPENING TIPOFF
Mercer Men's Basketball returns to action following a week off when they travel to Cullowhee, N.C. to face Western Carolina in Southern Conference action. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN+and 100.9 The Creek FM and Sportsmic Radio with Rick Cameron on the call.

ABOUT THE CATAMOUNTS
Western Carolina enters the contest with the Bears with a record of 11-3 on the season and a mark of 3-0 in the Southern Conference… The Catamounts have won its last four games including a 97-85 victory over VMI on Wednesday, Jan. 5… Western Carolina has SoCon wins over Chattanooga, The Citadel and VMI…. Western Carolina is averaging 82.6 points per game, the second-highest total in the SoCon… The Catamounts are shooting 47.6 percent from the floor and 38.2 percent on three-pointers this season… WCU is allowing 73.1 points per game and opponents are shooting 43.5 percent from the floor and 30.1 percent on three-pointers… Mason Faulkner leads the Catamounts in scoring averaging 18.5 points per game… Through three conference games, Faulkner is averaging 23.3 points per game… Carlos Dotson follows averaging 13.5 points and collects 9.2 rebounds per game… Dotson is averaging a double-double in SoCon games as he is averaging 17.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game… Faulkner scored 31 points against Chattanooga on Dec. 3, the third-most points in a SoCon game this season… Western Carolina is 6-0 at the Ramsey Center this season… WCU is led by Mark Prosser, who is in his third season at the helm.

LAST TIME OUT
The last time the Bears took to the court was Saturday, Jan. 4 against Chattanooga. The Mocs defeated the Bears, 70-61. Djordje Dimitrijevic led the Bears with 22 points on the evening. Dimitrijevic went 2-for-7 on three-pointers and now has a three in each of the Bears last 14 games. Maciej Bender added 12 for the Bears, rounding out the double-figure scorers. Mercer struggled shooting from behind the arc, as they were 4-of-17 in the contest. Two of the four three-pointers made was by Dimitrijevic, who now has made a three-pointer in the Bears last 14 games. Late in the contest, the Bears got within six points but could not get over the hump as they were defeated, 70-61.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR THE BEARS
After only picking up four double-doubles during the 2018-19 season, the Bears have recorded 11 double-doubles this season. Four different players have recorded a double-double this season. Below are the Bears that have recorded double-doubles. Ethan Stair leads the way with seven double-doubles. Maciej Bender, Djordje Dimitrijevic and Victor Bafutto's were the first of their career.

Name                                    Double-Doubles               Last Double-Double
Ethan Stair 7 12/28/19 vs. Milligan
Maciej Bender 2 12/20/19 vs. Furman
Djordje Dimitrijevic 1 11/11/19 vs. Kennesaw State
Victor Bafutto 1 12/28/19 vs. Milligan

LAST SEASON IN CULLOWHEE
The last meeting between the Bears and Catamounts took place on Feb. 14, 2019, in Cullowhee, N.C. The Bears came away with a 74-65 win at the Ramsey Center. In the contest, Ross Cummings scored a game-high 18 points in the Bears road victory at Western Carolina. All 10 players that dressed contributed valuable minutes in the game. Mercer led 40-25 at halftime before winning 74-65. The win at WCU last season snapped a four-game losing streak.

BEARS IN CULLOWHEE
Over the last three seasons, the Bears have gone 2-1 in the Ramsey Center on the campus of Western Carolina. They won last year's meeting, 74-65, on Feb. 14, 2019. They also won during the 2017 season, 70-50. The only loss in the last three years came during the 2018 season when they lost by two, 58-56.

STAIR EARNS HOOPSHD.COM HONORS
The end of the calendar year means that is time to recognize the best players in college basketball. Jon Teitel of HoopsHD received all the numbers and announced his five best players from the Southern Conference. Ethan Stair was named one of the best five players in the Southern Conference. Over the Bears 14 games in 2019, Stair averaged 17.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. He collected seven double-doubles over the Bears first 14 games. Against Georgia Southern on Nov. 19, Stair scored a career-high 28 points. On Dec. 16, Stair collected a career-high 16 rebounds.

HOW MANY STRAIGHT GAMES WITH A THREE?
Six SoCon student-athletes have streaks of at least 13 games with a made three-pointer. The Bears Djordje Dimitrijevic has made a three-pointer in 14 straight games, while Ross Cummings has followed with a three in 13 straight games. Dimitrijevic is the third-longest streak in the SoCon. The SoCon leader for consecutive games hitting a three-pointer is Brandon Allen of Samford. He is currently at 18 straight games hitting a three-pointer.

Player (School)                                 Streak
Brandon Austin (Samford)           18
Alex Hunter (Furman)                    15
Djordje Dimitrijevic (Mercer)      14
Ross Cummings (Mercer)             13
Kaiden Rice (The Citadel)              13
Matt Halvorsen (WCU)                  13

MERCERS LAST SoCON WIN
The last win for the Bears in SoCon action came against Chattanooga on Feb. 23, 2019. In the contest against the Mocs, Ross Cummings scored a career-high 37 points leading the Bears to a come from behind 79-69 victory. Cummings connected on 12 of 22 field goals, including eight of 14 three-pointers, and was five of seven from the free-throw line. Mercer outscored the Mocs 40-27 in the second half and ended the game on a 24-13 run. The Bears have lost five straight SoCon games.

TEN OR MORE THREES IN A GAME
The Bears have made ten or more three-pointers in three games this season. The most three-pointers Mercer has hit in a single game was 14 against Milligan. Below are the games that Mercer connected on ten or more three-pointers.

Date      Opponent                           3-pt FG Made
11/6       at St. John's                        12
12/16     at UNCW                             11
12/28     Milligan                                14

STAIR COLLECTING REBOUNDS
Ethan Stair leads the Bears averaging 8.9 rebounds per game, which is the second-best mark in the Southern Conference. This season, Stair grabbed 16 rebounds at UNCW on Dec. 16 for a career-high. On the season, he has collected 143 total rebounds (115 defensive; 28 offensive). He has seven games where he averaged double-figure rebounds.

TEN OR MORE ASSISTS IN A GAME
Djordje Dimitrijevic set a career-high with 10 assists against Furman on Dec. 20 to open Southern Conference action. He is one of four players to record 10 or more assists in a game this season.

LOOKING TO JOIN 1,000-POINT CLUB
Both Ross Cummings and Ethan Stair are closing into on becoming the Bears 41st and 42nd 1,000-career scores in Mercer History. Which player will be the first to score 1,000 points? Cummings has scored 860 points in his career that spans 79 games, while Stair has scored 973 points in 101 games. Sitting in 40th on the 1,000-point club for Mercer is Dartez Talbott who scored 1,014 points in his career at Mercer, which stretched from the 1979-81 seasons. James Florence, who played for the Bears from 2006-10, is the all-time leading scorer as he scored 2,286 points. Florence is the only 2,000-point scorers in Mercer history. The list of players that Cummings and Stair are looking to catch is below.

1,000 Point Scorers (No. 36-40)
                Rk.         Name                    Pts
                36           Will Emerson     1,050
                T37         Jim Hearn            1,034
                T37         Reggie Elliott      1,034
                38           Rodney Kirtz       1,025
                39           Donnie Veal        1,023
                40           Dartez Talbott   1,014
                                Ethan Stair          973
                                Ross Cummings 860

SOCON 1,000 POINT SCORERS
Ethan Stair sits 27 points away from 1,000 in his career. When he scores his 1,000th career point, he will be the 41^st player in Mercer history to do so but he will be the fifth active player in the Southern Conference in scoring. Nathan Hoover has scored 1,301 points in his career, which is the active SoCon Career leader.

WESTERN CAROLINA PEFECT AT HOME
Entering Saturday's contest against Mercer, the Catamounts are a perfect 6-0 at the Ramsey Center this season. The last loss for Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center came on Feb. 23, 2019, when VMI defeated the Catamounts, 83-78.

GREG GARY COACH'S SHOW
The Greg Gary Coach's Show is underway from Margaritas in Mercer Village. The 11-edition show will be streamed on Sportsmic Radio and the Mercer Men's Basketball Facebook page. The show is aired from Margaritas in Mercer Village from 6 to 7 p.m. The next Greg Gary Coach's Show will be on Monday, Jan. 13^th.

SoCON CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2020 Ingles SoCon Men's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale will be held March 6-9 at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina. The 2020 edition of the tournament is the 100th for the nation's oldest collegiate conference basketball tournament.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action at Hawkins Arena on Wednesday Jan. 15 when they host VMI in Southern Conference action. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

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.