Men’s Basketball Defeats The Citadel for Sixth Straight Win

Saturday, February 1

Macon, Ga.

4:30 p.m.

Mercer University

12-11,6-4SoCon

The Citadel

6-15,0-10SoCon

The Citadel

Mercer

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

Men’s Basketball Defeats The Citadel for Sixth Straight Win

2/1/2020 8:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The win for Mercer puts the Bears above .500 on the season

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's basketball team increased their winning streak to six games on Saturday with a 76-71 victory over The Citadel in the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week.

Daniel Love led the Bears with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Kamar Robertson and Diego Rivera followed with 13 points apiece. Rivera's 13 points set a career-high. Jeff Gary added 12 points, and Ethan Stair rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.

Mercer came out of the gate struggling to score as it was held to two points over the first six minutes of the game. Love scored the first bucket for the Bears before the Bulldogs raced out to an 8-2 lead.

After a Victor Bafutto layup with 13:50 left in the first half, the Bears trailed by four. The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 14-5. Trailing by nine, Mercer went on a 22-2 run over a seven-minute span. The run put the Bears ahead 27-16 with just under four minutes to go until halftime.

Stair capped the run with a layup and gave Mercer its largest lead of the first half. The Bears continued to hold onto the lead and took a nine-point lead, 31-22, into halftime.

The Citadel came out of the locker room strong in the second half as the Bulldogs limited Mercer to four points over the first four minutes. During that time, the Bulldogs trimmed the Bears lead down to three points, 35-32.

Mercer continued to lead, but The Citadel cut the lead to one, 40-39, after a layup by Stephen Clark. Over the next two minutes, Mercer grew the lead to seven, 49-42, thanks to a layup by James Glisson III.

With the Bears leading by nine, 52-43, the Bulldogs took a bite out of the Bears' lead as they went on an 8-0 run, erasing the majority of Mercer's lead and making it a one-point contest, 52-51. After the Bears pushed the lead back to three, The Citadel hit a three-pointer tying the game at 54. Mercer made a layup, but Tyson Batiste responded with a three-pointer putting the Bulldogs ahead, 57-56.

With 5:33 left in the contest, Rivera knocked down a three-pointer giving the Bears two-point lead. The three-pointer sparked the Bears, and Mercer stretched its lead back to nine points. Mercer continued to hold onto the lead and came away with a 76-71 victory over The Citadel.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "It was a great environment. That is what we want, and that is what we are striving to get. It was fabulous, and it really helped us. We struggled a little bit, and I wanted to see how we would react coming off a big win at ETSU. Our fans were great at getting us back into it and giving us some energy. We had balanced scoring. Diego Rivera came in and gave us huge minutes. He gave us a good punch and energy. It was good to see Daniel Love make some shots. The Citadel was doing some different things to Ethan (Stair), so he did not get too many looks, but he still moved the ball well on offense. He understood the game, especially as far as getting other people open."

NOTABLES

The Bears recorded their 12^th win of the 2019-20 campaign, eclipsing the number of victories from the previous season.
This is Mercer's longest winning streak since the 2017-18 season. The Bears have been victorious in six straight contests, which is the longest active streak in the Southern Conference.
Coach Gary's squad improved to 6-2 on the year when surrendering between 70-79 points to the opposition.
Five players reached double figures for the home squad with Daniel Love leading the way with 14. The last time five or more individuals scored 10+ points came in Mercer's 102-54 win over Milligan on December 31, 2019.
Diego Rivera set a career-high with 13 points. The Miami, Fla. native knocked down 4-of-6 shots from the floor and hit 3-of-4 attempts at the charity stripe.
The Bears shot 50.8 percent from the floor and eclipsed the 50 percent mark for the eighth time this season.
Mercer's 10 steals mark the fifth time this season the Bears have recorded 10 or more in a game.
The Bears' final eight games are split evenly with four taking place inside Hawkins Arena and four on the road.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 5, when they travel to Greenville, S.C. to face Furman. Tipoff from Timmons Arena 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.