Men’s Basketball Win Streak Snapped at Furman

Wednesday, February 5

Greenville, S.C.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

Furman

Photo by: Jesika Moore

Men’s Basketball Win Streak Snapped at Furman

2/5/2020 10:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Bears win streak ends at six games

By: Travis Rae

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Despite Kamar Robertson's team-high 15 points, the Mercer men's basketball squad could not extend its winning streak to seven games as they fell to the Furman Paladins, 79-57, on Wednesday evening.

Mercer (12-12, 6-5 SoCon) struggled out of the gates, as the Paladins (19-5, 9-2 SoCon) began the contest with an 8-2 run over the first 3:04 of the game. The Bears would battle back, using a 9-0 run their own to claim an 11-8 lead after five minutes of action.

Midway through the first half, the Paladins heated up while the Bears offense went cold. Furman went on a 23-3 run over a seven-minute stretch. After the run, the Bears trailed 34-19 with 4:44 left in the half.

Mercer cut the lead down to 12 points late in the half after a three-pointer by Robertson, but Furman closed the half with a three of its own to take a 39-24 lead into halftime.

Furman extended its lead early in the second half to 19 points on multiple occasions. Each time the Bears looked as if they would make a run, the Paladins answered back. Following a Robertson 3-pointer with 10:19 to go, Mercer trailed by 16, 55-39.

Sixteen points would be as close as the Bears would get in the second half, as the Paladins grew their lead as high as 29 points in the second half. Mercer closed the game on a 7-0 run but saw its win streak snapped with the 79-57 defeat.

QUOTABLES
Coach Greg Gary – "We had no fight. They took us out of anything we wanted to run. They were more physical and fought harder than we did. That's unacceptable, and I apologize to our fans, both the people that watched it (on TV) and came here to watch."

NOTABLES

The loss is Mercer's first defeat since January 11^th at Western Carolina
Kamar Robertson hit a career-best five treys in the contest, eclipsing his previous high, which was set in a win over Milligan on December 28, 2019. Robertson finished with 15 points and was a bucket shy of setting a new career-high.
Maciej Bender struggled from the floor (4-for-14) but reached double figures for the second time in three games. He finished with 10 points and eight boards.
Mercer grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds in the contest against Furman. Bender led the Bears with five offensive rebounds.
The Bears shot a season-low 33.3 percent from the floor in the contest. Their previous low was against FAU on Dec. 22.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Saturday, Feb. 8, when they host ETSU at Hawkins Arena. It's Boy Scouts Day on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 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.