Mercer Improves to 5-0 With 96-85 Triumph Over SWU

Sunday, December 6

Macon, Ga.

2:00 PM

Mercer University

5-0,0-0SoCon

Southern Wesleyan

1-0,0-0Conference Carolinas

Southern Wesleyan

Mercer

Photo by: Titouan Le Roux

Mercer Improves to 5-0 With 96-85 Triumph Over SWU

12/6/2020 5:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Ross Cummings is now tied for the third-most three-pointers made in a career with 190.

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – Five players scored in double figures as the Bears topped the Warriors of Southern Wesleyan, 96-85, on Sunday afternoon, to move to 5-0 for the first time since the 1966-67 season.

Ross Cummings scored 24 points and hit six three-pointers to tie E.J. Kusnyer for third all-time in program history. The redshirt senior guard from Dickson, Tenn. went 9-for-15 and 6-for-11 from deep. Cummings now has 190 three-pointers to his credit. Fellow senior Maciej Bender continued his hot-shooting weekend. The Warsaw, Poland product connected on all nine of his field goal attempts in Saturday's win and began Sunday by making his first six shots. Bender became the first player since Desmond Ringer to make his first 10+ shots from the floor over two games. Bender hit his first 15 while Ringer was 10-for-10 in January of 2018.

Cummings' 24 points led all scorers, and for the first time this season, the Bears placed five in double figures. Bender set a new career-high with 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Bender hit eight of 10 attempts at the charity stripe after going just 1-of-5 on Saturday. Felipe Haase finished one rebound shy of a double-double, contributing 14 points while grabbing nine boards. Jeff Gary (12) and Leon Ayers III (11) also reached double figures in the victory.

Mercer (5-0) trailed by seven, 11-4, 2:32 into the game, but quickly embarked on a 17-9 run, which was capped off by one of Cummings' six triples on the afternoon, with 12:17 to play in the first half. Cummings gave Mercer a narrow, 21-20 lead, but just over four minutes later, Haase connected from downtown to give the Bears their first double-digit advantage of the night.

Mercer pushed its lead to 10 on a Bender layup with 5:12 to play and at two points in the opening half – once with 3:47 to go off a Bender dunk – and again with 1:44 until the intermission thanks to the sharpshooting Cummings – Mercer led by 14. At the half, the Bears held a 47-36 advantage.

Southern Wesleyan was unable to get the Orange & Black's lead below 10, despite making it a 52-42 game before an 8-0 run, in which Bender contributed five of the eight points, pushed the home team's lead to 18, 60-42, with 14:52 remaining.

With a 14-point lead prior to the under-12 media timeout, Mercer connected from beyond the arc on three consecutive possessions with Cummings, Gary and Haase all knocking down shots. Haase's triple gave the Bears a 23-point cushion.

Mercer's largest lead of 24 points came on three separate occasions, the last occurring when Jovan Tucker nabbed a steal and converted a nifty fast break layup to push the Bears' lead to 92-68.
The Warriors, who considered the game an exhibition contest, ended the game on a 17-4 run, yet Mercer won by double-digits for the fifth straight contest, 96-85.

For the visitors, DeMarcus Addie scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting. SWU shot 46.3 percent from the floor for the game compared to 53.1 percent for Mercer.

Greg Gary Quotables

ON ROSS CUMMINGS' BIG NIGHT AND BEING TIED FOR THIRD ALL-TIME WITH 190 THREE-POINTERS MADE
"It's great for him. He's healthy and playing with a lot of passion. He can really shoot the ball. I'm glad he's on our team with the way he played and his effort. He has a quick release, and we have some guys that can shoot the ball. We have to keep sharing it. We had 23 assists, which is great, and 11 turnovers. When we share it [the basketball], we can make some open shots."

ON MACIEJ BENDER GOING 8-FOR-10 FROM THE FREE THROW LINE
"Free throw shooting is all mental. It's about putting in time and being relaxed up there and doing your routine. I'm glad he did that because he's going to get to the free throw line if he's moving and finishing strong at the rim."

ON VMI
"[The Keydets] are good. They have returning pieces and run a really good system. They're going to play hard. They mix up their defenses and make you make decisions. We're going to have to continue to move the basketball and watch tape and be ready to roll. It's a conference game and a big start."

NOTABLES

The Bears are now 5-0 for the first time since the 1966-67 season. The '66-67 squad began the season 7-0 overall.
After going 9-for-9 from the floor in Saturday's victory over CIU, Bender connected on his first six tries on Sunday afternoon. He became the first player to make his first 10 shots over a two-game span since Desmond Ringer did so on Jan. 24, 2018 (at ETSU) and Jan. 27, 2018 (vs. The Citadel).
Bender's 20 points are a new career high. He averaged 19.5 points per game in two games this week. Cummings set a season-high in scoring with 24 points.
Just one day after going only 1-of-5 from the charity stripe, Bender set career-highs in free throws made (8) and attempted (10) as he shot 80 percent from the line.
Gary reached double-digits for the first time this season. The Austin, Texas native connected on four of his seven tries from beyond the arc.
For the first time this season, the Bears had five players score in double figures. Mercer has had at least three players score 10+ points in each of its five games this season.
Southern Wesleyan's 27 rebounds are a season-low for a Mercer opponent.
All four of Shannon Grant's rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor. The 6-foot-10 freshman holds the single-game high for the Bears thus far.
Gary handed out five of the Orange & Black's 23 assists and only had one turnover for a 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Mercer's 23 assists are a single-game high this season. The Bears have 104 assists on 158 made baskets, meaning they are recording assists on nearly two of every three made field goals.
On the +/- scale, Cummings led the team with a +21. Neftali Alvarez was second with a +17.

UP NEXT
The Bears will rest during the early part of the upcoming week before traveling to VMI to begin Southern Conference action on Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ or heard on the Mercer Sports Network (100.9 The Creek, SportsMic).

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.