Bears Top Western Carolina, 78-76, in Nail-Biter

Saturday, January 16

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

8-4,1-3SoCon

Western Carolina

7-4,0-2SoCon

Western Caro.

Mercer

Photo by: Will Stone

Bears Top Western Carolina, 78-76, in Nail-Biter

1/16/2021 5:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Maciej Bender scored a career-high 22 points.

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – Mercer never trailed in a tight contest with the Western Carolina Catamounts, and Leon Ayers III's free throws gave the Bears the lead with 25 seconds left before Patrick Urey iced the game, allowing the Bears to secure a 78-76 win.

Mercer (8-4, 1-3 SoCon) led for 37:18, and while the game was tied for a mere 2:42, the Bears never allowed the Catamounts to take the lead.

The Bears used a hot start to take a double-digit advantage midway through the first half. Ayers III's jumper with 11:08 to go put Mercer ahead 11, 18-7, and a 5-0 run courtesy of Neftali Alvarez extended the Orange & Black's lead to 16. The Bears' largest lead of the contest came late in the first half as the clock showed less than five minutes remaining. With his team ahead 17, Ayers III quickly hit a jumper, which he followed with a layup on the break to give Mercer a 37-16 cushion.

With the Bears ahead by 21 with 3:33 remaining in the half, Western Carolina embarked on a 12-2 run over 2:38. The Catamounts looked poised to enter the locker room having cut 10 points off the Bears' lead, but the speedy Alvarez raced down the floor to lay in the ball as time expired on the first 20 minutes of play. Alvarez had stellar first half with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Maciej Bender, who scored a career-high 22 points in the game, was the dominant force for the home team in the final half. The 6-foot-11 forward threw down five highlight reel worthy dunks in the first 6:39 of the half, the last of which gave Mercer a 56-39 lead with 13:21 to play.

Western Carolina (7-2, 0-2 SoCon) used a 10-0 spurt to slice the Orange & Black's lead to seven before Bender stopped the bleeding with a jumper prior to the 11-minute mark. The Catamounts tied the game with 9:46 remaining, and once again it was Bender who put Mercer back on top, this time with a conversion from the charity stripe.

Jeff Gary followed Bender's free throw with five consecutive successful attempts from the line to push the margin back to six, which was the largest lead Mercer would hold for the remainder of the game. Gary's five makes were his most in a single-game this season.

The Catamounts were able to induce a scare, pulling within one before the final media timeout of the game, but four free throws courtesy of Alvarez pushed the Bears' lead to five, 74-69, with 2:08 to go. Western Carolina would once again scare the Mercer faithful when Mason Faulkner made a pair of free throws with 68 seconds left, tying the game at 74.

With the game on the line, Ayers III and Urey decided extra time was unnecessary to determine a winner. After drawing a foul on the Catamounts' Tyler Harris, Ayers III calmly knocked down two free throws, giving Mercer the lead for good. Urey, who provided a season-best 22 minutes of pure tenacity on the boards and defensive end of the floor, rebounded Xavier Cook's errant shot with 14 seconds left. He then promptly drew a foul and with ice in his veins, made two free throws.

Western Carolina's final layup of the night was meaningless, and Ayers III caught the inbounds pass with 0.9 seconds to go, running out the clock to give Mercer a 78-76 victory in front of a rowdy home crowd that featured many members of the Bears' football program.

Alvarez led the Orange & Black with 24 points, setting a career-high. Alvarez hit 40 percent (6-of-15) of his shots. Bender contributed a career-best 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting, including a perfect 7-of-7 in the second half. His 10 field goals also matched his career-high. Ayers III was the third and final Bear in double figures. He contributed 17 off the bench, including 15 much needed points in the opening half. His final tally of 17 points matched his career-high. The Orange & Black shot 47.3 percent (26-of-55) from the floor and held a 39-28 advantage on the glass.

Mason Faulkner scored a quiet 25 points for Western Carolina, hitting 16-of-18 free throws but only 4-of-11 field goals. Xavier Cook (13), Matt Halvorsen (12) and Cory Hightower (10) also reached double figures. The Catamounts shot a cool 37.3 percent (19-of-51) but made 30-of-36 free throws.

Coach Gary Quotables
ON THE GAME AND MERCER'S TOUGHNESS
"I thought we showed toughness. We have to build on it and not go back to [what we showed some] in our first three SoCon games. Did we show toughness at times in our first three games? Yes, but tonight was especially good. This league is good. To give ourselves a chance to win we have to play hard and play with toughness. We definitely did that tonight. We ought to feel good about this. We got a stop late, and that's how you win games. When we needed to, we made stops defensively and made our free throws."

ON PATRICK UREY'S LATE REBOUND AND FREE THROWS.
"He made a huge impact. I'm happy for him. He works his butt off and is tough. I am proud of him."

ON WESTERN CAROLINA'S LAST SHOT
"They put teams in a bind because they have good shooters. We did a great job in spite of that and showed some toughness."

ON INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
"Neftali did a nice job. He can get to the rim. He's so fast and competitive; he hit free throws when we needed him to, which I was proud of. Leon gave us a great effort. Maciej made some plays that were just phenomenal."

NOTABLES

Mercer has won seven games when it scores the first points of the game.
The Orange & Black never trailed in the contest, leading for 37:18. The contest was tied for 2:42
Urey, who secured a pivotal final rebound and proceeded to make the ensuing free throws after a foul, provided 22 stellar minutes off the bench.
Alvarez led the Bears with 24 points, which surpassed his career-high. He originally set it against New Hampshire as a freshman when he played at Fairfield.
This was Alvarez's first 20-best performance game of the season.
Alvarez tied his career-high in free throws made with 10. He saw the floor for all but 37 seconds of the 40 minutes, the most he has ever played in a contest.
Bender's 22 points are a new career-best for the Warsaw, Poland native as he surpassed his previous high of 21, which came in a December win over Kennesaw State.
Ayers III set tied a pair of career-highs with 17 points and seven field goals made.
Ayers III has reached double figures in four of Mercer's last five games.
Felipe Haase led the Bears with nine boards in 16 minutes.
Mercer's 43 points in the first half were second only to its 47 against Southern Wesleyan in December.
The Bears allowed the Catamounts only 30 first half points, the second lowest of any opponent this season.
Mercer held a sizable scoring advantage in the paint, 36-22.
The Bears improved to 2-2 against Western Carolina under Greg Gary.
Mercer is now 5-1 at Hawkins Arena this season.
The Bears are 7-2 when outshooting the opposition.

UP NEXT
The Bears will hit the road to take on The Citadel on Wednesday. The Southern Conference contest is set to begin at 7 p.m. with video on ESPN+ and radio coverage via the Mercer Sports Network which includes 100.9 The Creek FM and SportsMic Radio.

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.