Bears Win Third Straight; Defeat WCU 85-79

Wednesday, January 22

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

9-11,3-4SoCon

Western Carolina

12-6,4-3SoCon

Western Caro.

Mercer

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

1/22/2020 10:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer defeated WCU, 85-79, for third straight win

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's basketball team won its third straight Southern Conference contest on Wednesday night as they defeated Western Carolina, 85-79, at Hawkins Arena.

With the win, the Bears move to 9-11 on the season and 3-4 in SoCon play. Western Carolina falls to 12-6 on the season and 4-3 in conference play.

For the fifth straight contest, Djordje Dimitrijevic scored over 22 points. On Wednesday, Dimitrijevic finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Jeff Gary followed with a career-high 20 points. Ethan Stair recorded his eighth double-double of the season with a 17 point, 13 rebound performance. Mercer shot 48.3 percent from the floor in the win.

Early in the game, the Bears went to work inside the arc as they built an early 6-2 lead with 17:38 to go in the half. Following the lead, the Catamounts slowly chipped away and built a lead up to five, 16-11, after a pair of free throws by Mason Faulkner.

Mercer answered back and Dimitrijevic hit three free-throws tying the game at 18-18. The next position for the Bears, Daniel Love hit a jumper putting the Bears ahead by two, 20-18, with 12 minutes to go in the half.

After taking the two-point lead, Western Carolina tied the game three times and with the score tied at 27-27, Mercer went on a 5-0 run and took a 32-27 lead after a Stair fast break layup. The Bears continued to hold the lead and a three by Stair to close the half put Mercer ahead, 39-33, at halftime.

Opening the second half, Mercer extended its lead to ten points, 48-38, after a Victor Bafutto layup. Following the Bafutto layup, the Catamounts scored the next eight points and the lead was down to two, 48-46. Over the next two minutes, the Bears lead was down to one, 51-50.

Mercer slowly stretched the lead back to five but the Catamounts again got the lead down to one, 57-56, with 9:59 left in the half. Over the next two minutes, Mercer went on a 12-2, run capped by an old-fashion three-point play putting Mercer ahead, 69-58.

With an 11-point lead, 74-63, and 5:20 to go in the game, the Bears continued to hold onto its lead. WCU got the lead down to six, 74-68, but four straight points by Gary grew the lead to ten, 78-68. Faulkner scored five straight trimming the lead down to five and would get as close as four, but no closer as the Bears came away with an 85-79 for its third straight win.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "It wasn't a perfect game, but I thought when we needed to we got stops, and we hit our free throws. We didn't turn the ball over. Again, it wasn't as crisp and as clean as you want, but Western Carolina is a good team. We were trying to do some different things on Dotson, but he's such a load down there. When you allow him to catch on the block, he's really good. He can score around the basket."

NOTABLES

The 85-79 victory was Mercers third consecutive Southern Conference win.
Mercers last three-game winning streak in SoCon play came during the 2017-18 season when the Bears defeated, Samford (Jan. 13, 2018), Chattanooga (Jan. 15, 2018) and VMI (Jan. 18 2018).
The Bears improved to 6-4 (.600) inside Hawkins Arena this season.
Ethan Stair recorded his eighth double-double of the season.
Jeff Gary scored a career-high 20 points. Gary shot a 6-for-9 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from downtown.
For the fifth consecutive contest, senior Djordje Dimitrijevic eclipsed the 20-point mark. He finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting and made all seven of his attempts at the charity stripe.
As a team, the Bears shot 18-of-20 from the free throw line. It marks the third time this season that Mercer has shot 90% or better from the charity stripe.

UP NEXT
The Bears hit the road to face VMI on Saturday, Jan. 25 in Lexington, Va. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. from Cameron Hall.

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.