Mercer Downs In-State Rival Georgia Tech, 83-73

Friday, November 27

Atlanta, Ga.

8:00 PM

Mercer University

2-0,0-0SoCon

Georgia Tech

0-2,0-0ACC

Mercer

Georgia Tech

Photo by: Hyosub Shin

Mercer Downs In-State Rival Georgia Tech, 83-73

11/27/2020 11:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Bears picked up their first win over a Power Five opponent since Dec. 2015

By: Kraig Doremus

ATLANTA – Greg Gary's Bears are now 2-0 after defeating in-state rival Georgia Tech, 83-73, behind 17 points from both Neftali Alvarez and Felipe Haase on Friday.

Mercer (2-0) trailed for just 30 seconds and picked up its first win over a Power Five opponent since Dec. 19, 2015 when the Bears knocked off the Arkansas Razorbacks in overtime. The win was also the Bears' first over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since they defeated the Duke Blue Devils in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

A hot start from redshirt senior guard Ross Cummings propelled Mercer to an early lead as the Dickson, Tenn., native scored his eighth point just 3:36 into the game, putting the Bears up by a 10-4 score. At that moment, the 6-foot-3 guard had single-handedly outscored the Yellow Jackets.Cummings would connect for the third time at the 15:04 mark to push the Orange & Black's lead to nine, and with less than seven minutes in the books, Mercer took a double-digit lead, 18-8, off a Jeff Gary triple.

Georgia Tech (0-2) mounted a run midway through the opening half, pulling within five with 8:31 and 7:04 remaining until halftime. The Yellow Jackets tied the game at 29-all off Jose Alvarado's fast break layup, but the Bears quickly regained composure to take back the lead off a Felipe Haase three-pointer with 2:05 remaining. The visiting Bears closed the half on a 9-6 run to lead by three, 38-35, after 20 minutes of play.

The Yellow Jackets never got closer than five in the second half, and Mercer extended its lead to 10 off a Neftali Alvarez free throw just prior to the halfway mark of the second half. The Bears' lead hovered around 10 points until a thunderous dunk by Dectaur, Ga., native James Glisson III put Mercer ahead by double digits for good. Glisson III's dunk with 5:32 remaining made it 63-52 in favor of Mercer.

With time winding down in the contest, four consecutive free throws by Alvarez gave the Bears a 19-point advantage, 78-59, their largest of the night. Georgia Tech utilized a full court pressure defense in the final moments to attempt to stop the Bears' momentum, and, despite the Yellow Jackets ending the game on a 14-5 run, the Orange & Black prevailed, 83-73.

Haase and Alvarez paced Mercer with 17 points apiece. Despite a slow start from the field, Haase found his rhythm and ended the night 5-for-11 from three-point range. He also pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists. The speedy Alvarez struggled from the floor but went 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. He finished with an impressive stat line of 17 points, eight boards and a career-high nine helpers. Cummings (16 points) and Glisson III (14 points) also finished in double figures. Mercer hit 12 three-pointers, making 48 percent of its attempts. The Bears went 27-of-61 (44.3 percent) on the night from the floor. Mercer was off the mark just once from the free throw line, going 17-of-18.

Georgia Tech's Moses Wright led all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Michael Devoe (14 points), Bubba Parham (12 points) and Jordan Usher (11 points) were also in double figures for the home squad. The Yellow Jackets struggled from beyond-the-arc, hitting just eight of their 24 attempts (33 percent). Overall, Georgia Tech made 28-of-61 attempts (45.9 percent). The Jackets held a slight advantage on the boards, 35-33.

Greg Gary Quotables

ON THE TEAM EFFORT
"They did an outstanding job, especially on the defensive end. Our guys did a great job of carrying out their assignments and the game plan. You have to give credit to our guys. They fought really hard and did a great job on the offensive end of moving and sharing the ball. When we do that we have so many options, we're really balanced."

ON NEFTALI ALVAREZ
"He managed the game beautifully, I thought. He was tough and made the right decisions. He ended up with just two turnovers, which is huge. If we can go and not the turn the ball over it just gives us a lot more opportunities to score. We have some good pieces. Neftali exudes toughness. It helps our other guys just to see it because we keep adding toughness and confidence when he leads us in that way. He can be a good leader because he works so hard."

ON THE THREE-POINT SHOOTING
"I knew they were going to [guard] Ross hard after he hit three shots. I think it helped our guys to breathe a bit when he was shooting and hitting. Felipe had great looks. I told him to keep shooting and they would go in at some point."

ON HOMETOWN ATHLETE JAMES GLISSION
"I'm happy for him. He did not play well against North Georgia and his minutes were down. He could have easily put his head down and gotten frustrated. Instead, he played like a man. It's great for his growth. We have good depth on our team. If James can play that way, it helps us because he is athletic and can rebound."

ON HIS MESSAGE TO THE TEAM
"[I told them] to have better fight than our opponents. We were not done at halftime. Georgia Tech hit some shots they normally don't and we were still up. Every coach says the first five minutes of the second half is important, especially on the road at a place like Georgia Tech. I could see in our guys' eyes that their minds were made up. They had a lot of toughness. It's great for us to springboard off this. This is one win. Lets not lose our minds about it. How we came in here and won, how did we do it? Because we were tough and shared the basketball."

NOTABLES

Mercer picked up its first win over a Power Five opponent since Dec. 2015 when it defeated Arkansas in overtime, 69-66.
The win is the Bears' first over an ACC foe since defeating Duke in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Mercer has now defeated Tech in each of its last two matchups – Dec. 22, 2011 and tonight.
For the second consecutive game, the Bears placed four players in double figures.
The 18 made free throws are Mercer's most since going 18-of-22 against Western Carolina in Jan. 2020.
The 94.4 percent mark from the charity stripe is Mercer's best since it went 14-for-14 against ETSU in Feb. 2017.
The Bears hit 12 three-pointers, the most since a win over Samford on Feb. 19, 2020 (14).

UP NEXT
The Bears will play their third consecutive in-state opponent when they host Georgia State at 7 p.m. on Monday. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ or heard on the Mercer Sports Network (100.9 The Creek, SportsMic). Fans can purchase tickets for $4.78 by clicking here and using the code 478day.

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.