Mercer Readies for Road Test at Chattanooga

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears are back in action Wednesday evening at Chattanooga for only the second time since the calendar turned to 2021. Mercer's last contest came on Jan. 2 at Furman.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
Matchup: Mercer (7-3, 0-2 SoCon) at Chattanooga (10-3, 1-3 SoCon)
Location: Chattanooga, Tenn. | McKenzie Arena
Live Stats:bit.ly/3btItwF
Live Video:ESPN+
Live Radio:100.9 The Creek andSportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Twitter Updates:@MercerMBB
Game Notes: Mercer

TODAY'S GAME / LAST TIME OUT
Trailing by 18 points in the second half, the Mercer Bears displayed a no-quit mentality, embarking on a furious comeback, which ultimately fell just short as the Furman Paladins escaped with an 83-80 win. Cummings led the Bears with 22 points, including 19 in the final half. The redshirt senior was 6-of-14 from the field and knocked down all six of his tries at the charity stripe. Bender contributed 14 points and was two rebounds away from a double-double with eight boards. Glisson III reached double figures, finishing one point away from his season-high with 13 points. Haase turned in a solid all-around performance with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

ABOUT THE MOCS
Chattanooga got off to a hot start, but has struggled in Southern Conference play, winning only one of its first four games. The Mocs dropped back-to-back contests (Furman, VMI) before topping Samford for their first league win of the season. Most recently, Chattanooga is coming off a 92-87 loss to The Citadel. Three Mocs are averaging double figures - David Jean-Baptist, Malachi Smith and Stefan Kenic. Jean-Baptist's 19.1 ppg lead the team.

SERIES HISTORY
The Mocs lead, 41-40.

CUMMINGS MOVES TO 40TH ON ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
Ross Cummings became the 43rd player in Mercer men's basketball history to reach at least 1,000 career points when he made a layup with 5:45 to go against Wofford on Dec. 29. He scored 22 points against Furman to move into 40th all-time. Below are the players he is trying to catch. Prior to Cummings, the last Bear to join the 1,000 point club was Ethan Stair. Stair joined the club last season on Jan. 28 at Samford. The all-time leading scorer is James Florence. Florence played for the Bears from 2006-10 and tallied 2,286 points in his career.

1,000 Point Scorers
Rk.     Name                         Pts.
35.      Steve Moody            1,064
36.      Bud Thomas 1,059
37.      Will Emerson 1,050
T38.    Jim Hearn                1,034
T38.    Reggie Elliott          1,034
40.      Ross Cummings 1,026

200+ CAREER THREE-POINTERS FOR CUMMINGS
The sharpshooting Cummings is nearing Mercer's all-time three-pointers made record, currently held by fan-favorite Langston Hall. Hall, who led the Bears to a stunning upset of No. 3 Duke in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, knocked down 256 treys. James Florence, the Bears' all-time leading scorer knocked down 242 shots from beyond the arc. Thanks to four against Ga. Southern (Dec. 13), Cummings has sole possession of third all-time on the list. His five three's on Dec. 29 vs. Wofford put him over 200 total. He currently has 206 three-pointers made and is 51 away from the record.

Rk.     Name 3's
1         Langston Hall             256
2.        James Florence         242
3.        Ross Cummings        206
4.        E.J. Kusnyer 190
5.        Bud Thomas               161

MERCER VS. IN-STATE OPPONENTS IN 2020-21
Mercer faced off against in-state opponents six times in non-conference play. The Bears all-time record against these in-state opponents is 145-143. Below is a recap of how Mercer faired against in-state foes this season.

Date               Opponent                   Result
11/25/20         North Georgia W, 79-48
11/27/20         at Georgia Tech W, 83-73
11/30/20         Georgia State W, 86-69
12/13/20         at Georgia Southern   W, 77-75
12/16/20         at Georgia State L, 88-81
12/22/20         at Kennesaw State W, 81-71

The Bears went a perfect 2-0 at home against in-state foes, topping North Georgia and Georgia State. The Bears were 3-1 on the road with a big win over Power-5 Georgia Tech and a thrilling, 77-75, a comeback win at Georgia Southern in which Neftali Alvarez hit the game-winning layup off a pass from Jeff Gary, and a 10-point victory at KSU.

CUMMINGS HIGH AMONG ACTIVE SCORING LEADERS
Ross Cummings is among the Southern Conference's active career scoring leaders. He currently ranks fifth among active leaders.

Name             School    Yr.      Points
Isaiah Miller    UNCG   Sr. 1,588
M.Halvorsen    WCU Sr.   1,099
Clay Mounce  FUR Sr. 1,089
Storm Murphy WOF Sr.     1.076
Ross Cummings MER Sr. 1,026

ALVAREZ AND GARY LEND A HELPING HAND
Neftali Alvarez is currently leading the Southern Conference in assists at 5.8 assists per contest while Jeff Gary (4.2) is tied for fourth (as of publication date). Below are the top-five leaders in the Southern Conference.

Name                   School    Games     Assists    Assists/Game
Neftali Alvarez    MER        8    46               5.8
Storm Murphy    WOF      10 48               4.8
Mason Faulkner WCU      8    36               4.5
Jeff Gary               MER       10      42               4.2
Isaiah Miller      UNCG    10       41               4.1

THREE-POINT STREAKS
Ross Cummings is one of two SoCon men's basketball student-athletes to have a streak of 20+ games with a made three-pointer.

Player            School            20-21  19-20  18-19  Tot.
Fletcher Abee The Citadel     8         18       X         26
Ross Cummings Mercer         10       6         7         23

HAASE HITS THE BOARDS
Felipe Haase has made a difference on the glass for Mercer this season. Below is where he ranks among the SoCon's leaders in rebounding

Rk.     Category Avg.
3.        Reb./Gm          9.5
3.        Def.Reb/Gm   7.4
6.        Off.Reb/Gm    2.1

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.

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Players Mentioned

Neftali Alvarez

Ross Cummings

Jeff Gary

Felipe Haase

Ethan Stair

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