Mercer Extends Win Streak to Five; Defeats ETSU, 71-55

Wednesday, January 29

Johnson City, Tenn.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

11-11,5-4SoCon

ETSU

18-4,7-2SoCon

Mercer

ETSU

Mercer Extends Win Streak to Five; Defeats ETSU, 71-55

1/29/2020 11:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Bears win their fifth straight SoCon contest with the victory over ETSU

By: Travis Rae

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Mercer men's basketball team extended its winning streak to five straight games with a 71-55 victory over ETSU on Wednesday evening at Freedom Hall Civic Center. With the win, the Bears became the first team this season to defeat ETSU on their home court.

The win for the Bears is its first win against ETSU since Feb. 28, 2015. The win moves Mercer to 11-11 on the season and 5-4 in SoCon play. ETSU falls to 18-4 on the season and 7-2 in SoCon action.

Mercer shot 64.3 percent (27-of-42) from the floor in the game. Djordje Dimitrijevic led the Bears with 18 points. He hit two three-pointers and now has a three in 20 straight games. Maciej Bender scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Ethan Stair and Victor Bafutto rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points and 10 points respectfully.

ETSU jumped on the Bears over the first three minutes of the game and after an Isaiah Tisdale steal that led to a dunk; the Bucs led 8-2 over the Bears. Mercer answered right back and went on a 9-2 run capped by a Daniel Love jumper that put the Bears ahead, 11-10.

With the game tied at 13-13, Mercer went on a 7-0 run that saw Bafutto hit a jumper and put Mercer ahead 20-13, with 11:09 left in the first half. Over the next four minutes, the Bears saw the seven-point lead grow to 11, 30-19, after an old-fashion three-point play by Dimitrijevic.

The Bears went the final three and a half minutes scoreless and ETSU cut the Bears lead down to two, 36-34, heading to halftime.

Opening the second half, the Bears slowly grew its lead to nine points, 45-36, after a Bender free throw. After the Bucs trimmed the lead down to five, Mercer answered back and grew the lead back to nine, 49-40, with 12:51 remaining in the game.

The lead grew to double-figures with 10:22 left in the half after a jumper by Kamar Robertson. The Bears continued to hold onto the lead and with 6:03 left in the game, Mercer led 59-47, after a Bafutto layup. Mercer saw its lead grow to 15 points, 64-49, after a fast break dunk by Stair.

The lead grew to as many as 18 points in the second half and Mercer came away with a 71-55 victory. The win for the Bears is its fifth straight win.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "They were committed and the fight from one through 13. They (the bench) were all into it. It's amazing what you can do if you just put your mind to something and you just give it everything you have. I am really proud of the way our guys fought. You have to, against ETSU you have to be able to fight physically, to stand up to them. That's something our guys did, and I was proud of them."

NOTABLES

For the first time since Feb. 28, 2015, Mercer defeated ETSU. The win for the Bears snapped a ten-game losing streak to the Bucs.
Ethan Stair picked up his ninth double-double of the season against ETSU. He scored 11 points and collected 15 rebounds in the win.
Mercer shot 64.3 percent (27-of-42) from the floor in the contest. This is the highest shooting percentage of the season for Mercer. It was the first time since, Feb. 10, 2018, that the Bears have shot over 60 percent in a game.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bears did not allow the Bucs to hit a three-pointer in the second half. ETSU was 0-for-10 on three-pointers in the second and were 3-for-22 for the game.
Mercer held the Bucs to shoot 36.7 percent from the floor in the win.
Mercer outrebounded the Bucs, 37-25, in the contest. Ethan Stair led the Bears with 15 rebounds.
With the win at Freedom Hall Civic Center, the Bears become the first team in the 2019-20 season to beat ETSU on the Bucs home court.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Saturday, Feb. 1 when they host The Citadel at Hawkins Arena. Saturday is Middle Georgia Education Day! Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m.

How to Follow the Bears:
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