Bears Welcome VMI to Hawkins Arena on Saturday

MACON, Ga. – Greg Gary's Mercer Bears will welcome the VMI Keydets to Hawkins Arena for the Ingles SoCon Game of the week on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Saturday is "Boy Scouts Day," and fans can purchase tickets by clicking here.

Nexstar affiliates WYCW-TV (Greenville, S.C. / Spartanburg, S.C. / Asheville, N.C.), WWCW-TV (Roanoke, Va. / Lynchburg, Va.) and WMUB (Macon, Ga.) will all broadcast the game. WSPA Sports Director Pete Yanity will provide play-by-play and Dean Keener will serve as analyst for the contest.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021 | 2:00 p.m.
Tickets: bit.ly/3gVoB6o
Matchup: VMI (8-7, 3-3 SoCon) at Mercer (9-4, 2-3 SoCon)
Location: Macon, Ga. | Hawkins Arena
Live Stats: bit.ly/3o3C2mw
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Hawkins Arena Protocols: Click Here
Promotion: Boy Scouts Day
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB
Game Notes: Mercer | VMI

LAST TIME OUT
Leon Ayers III's career-high 23 points helped the Bears jump out to a sizable lead over The Citadel Bulldogs and cruise to an 83-63 win in Charleston on Wednesday. Ayers III hit his first 10 shots of the night and finished with a stellar stat line of 23 points accompanied by eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Mercer (9-4, 2-3 SoCon) led for all but 36 seconds, leaving little doubt as to who the victor would be on Wednesday. The Bears shot a scorching 66.7 percent (22-of-33) over the first 20 minutes but cooled off in the final half, ending the night at 53.7 percent (36-of-63) from the field. Five Mercer players finished in double figures with four-of-five starters scoring more than 10 points. Today, the Bears will host the Keydets in the InglesSoCon Game of the Week.

MOVING UP THE 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. Cummings' 1,061 points rank him 36th in program history.

1,000 Point Scorers
Rk.       Name                          Pts.
31.       Jerry Thruston             1,099
32.       Bob Reeves                 1,097
33.       Tony Bolds 1,085
34.       Demetre Rivers 1,065
35.       Steve Moody 1,064
36.       Ross Cummings 1,061

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 three-pointers against Ga. Southern (Dec. 13), Cummings has sole possession of third all-time on the list. His five triples on Dec. 29 vs. Wofford put him over 200 total. He currently has 213 three-pointers made and is 44 away from the record.

Rk.       Name                          3's
1          Langston Hall              256
2.         James Florence          242
3.         Ross Cummings         213
4.         E.J. Kusnyer                 190
5.         Bud Thomas                161

BENDER AMONG NATION'S BEST SHOOTERS
Maciej Bender currently sits seventh in the country in field goal percentage. Below are the top-10 as of the morning of 1.22.21

Rk.       Pts.      Name (School)
1.         73.1         Asbjorn Midtgaard (Grand Canyon)
2.         70.3       Hunter Dickinson (Michigan)
3.         70.1 Kofi Cockburn (Illinois)
4.         69.3 Max Fiedler (Rice)
5.         67.5 Xavier Cork (Western Carolina)
6.         67.4 KJ Williams (Murray State)
7.         66.7     Maciej Bender (Mercer)
8.         66.3 Gaige Prim (Missouri State)
9.         65.6 Eliel Noseme (Georgia State)
10.       64..6 Dwight Wilson (Ohio)

CUMMINGS HIGH AMONG ACTIVE SCORING LEADERS
Ross Cummings is among the Southern Conference's active career scoring leaders. He sits 63 points out of the top-five.

Name                              School Yr. Points
Isaiah Miller UNCG Sr.       1,656
David Jean-Baptiste UTC Sr.       1,142
Matt Halvorsen            WCU Sr.       1,136
Clay Mounce                 FUR Sr.       1,134
Storm Murphy WOF Sr.       1.122
Ross Cummings         MER R-Sr.    1,061

ALVAREZ LENDING A HELPING HAND, GARY LEADING CONFERENCE IN AST:TO RATIO
Neftali Alvarez is currently leading the Southern Conference in assists (min. 10 games played) while Jeff Gary leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9:1.

Name                          School     Games     Assists     Assists/Game
Neftali Alvarez           MER      11                57            5.2
Storm Murphy          WOF        12               57 4.8
Mason Faulkner        WCU   11                49            4.5
David Sloan                ETSU 12               50            4.2
Isaiah Miller                UNCG 13                51            3.9

DON'T LEAVE HIM OPEN! CUMMINGS AMONG SOCON'S BEST FROM DISTANCE
Ross Cummings is third among active SoCon players career in three-pointers made.

Name                          School     Yr.       3's
Matt Halvorsen WCU      Sr.       262
Kaiden Rice Citadel     Sr.       240
Ross Cummings      Mercer R-Sr. 213

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/Game       9.08
3.         D.Reb/Game   7.23
9          O.Reb/Game   1.85

HOME SWEET HOME
Hawkins Arena has been kind to the Bears in recent years. Each of the past two seasons, Mercer has gone 9-6 on their home floor. In 2017-18, the Bears were 11-3 inside Hawkins Arena. Below is Mercer's record at home since the 2016-17 campaign. Mercer is 42-23 at home since that campaign.

Season          Record
2016-17            8-7
2017-18            11-3
2018-19            9-6
2019-20            9-6
2020-21            5-1
Total                42-23

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.

Bears Welcome VMI to Hawkins Arena on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Neftali Alvarez

Leon Ayers III

Maciej Bender

Ross Cummings

Jeff Gary

Felipe Haase

Ethan Stair

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