Mercer's Rally Falls Short at Wofford

Saturday, January 30

Spartanburg, S.C.

4:00 PM

Mercer University

10-6,3-5SoCon

Wofford

10-5,7-2SoCon

Mercer

Wofford

Photo by: Wofford Athletics

1/30/2021 7:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Cummings and Alvarez paced the Bears with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

By: Kraig Doremus

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A fierce second half rally by the Mercer Bears fell short inside Wofford's Jerry Richardson Indoor Arena on Saturday as the Terriers escaped with a 72-69 win.

Mercer (10-6, 3-5 SoCon) struggled out the gate. After making two of their first three shots, the Bears went missed their next seven attempts, and the Terriers raced out to a 17-4 lead with 5:35 elapsed. Wofford slowly increased its margin to as many as 18, and Messiah Jones' layup forced a Mercer timeout prior to the seven-minute mark. Mercer battled, trimming seven points off the Terriers' lead before the home team extended its advantage to 12, 39-27, by halftime.

The momentum took a vast swing in favor of the Orange & Black in the second half. With the Bears down 14, Ross Cummings and Ayers III put together a 5-0 Mercer run to bring Wofford's lead under 10 points for the first time since it was 14-10 early in the opening half.

Freshman Jacksen Greco opened a 7-0 Mercer spurt with a three-pointer with 10:53 to play, and Ayers III followed him with back-to-back makes on the fast break, scaring the Terrier faithful. Although Wofford increased its lead, Ayers III hit big shots with 9:55 and 6:27 remaining, both of which cut the Terriers' advantage to two.

Wofford (10-5, 7-2) responded to Ayers III's three at the 6:27 mark with an 8-3 run of its own before Felipe Haase swished a trey from the left wing. 59 seconds later, the Terriers pushed the lead to five, but James Gilsson III slammed home the basketball with 1:57 to play. Glisson III's jam made it a 68-65 contest as Wofford clung to the lead.

Neither team scored for the next 1:44, and Cummings sent Mercer fans watching on ESPN+ and listening on the Mercer Sports Network to their feet. His layup trimmed Wofford's lead to a mere point with 13 ticks of the clock showing. Mercer had accumulated only three second half fouls, but just three seconds came off the clock as the Bears fouled four times to put Wofford in the bonus.

The Terriers' Ryan Larson hit two free throws before Alvarez sprinted the down the floor for a layup, making it 70-69. Larson was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and stepped to the charity stripe, making both. Mercer's three-pointer at the buzzer clanged off the backboard, and Wofford held on for the 72-69 win.

Mercer was led by Cummings' 18 points while Alvarez followed with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocked shots. All nine of Leon Ayers III's points came in the final 20 minutes. He also collected eight rebounds and dished out five helpers. Haase also scored nine and snagged seven boards. The Bears shot a cool 39.3 percent (11-of-28) in the first half, but heated up in the final 20 minutes, connecting on 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) attempts. For the game, Mercer was 28-of-58 (48.3 percent).

Wofford's Tray Hollowell shot 9-of-15 and scored a game-high 22 points. Ryan Larson and Messiah Jones each contributed 12, and both players shot 60 percent from the floor. Wofford made 50 percent (30-of-60) of its shots in the win.

Greg Gary Quotables
ON THE GAME
"We were behind Wofford's actions. Wofford does such a good job of making the extra pass, playing hard, driving downhill. It gets you in rotations, so you are just hoping they miss. They did not miss much in the first half. We told our guys at the half to do what we ask them to do. I thought we did a good job trying to deny the entry pass late and making it difficult for Wofford to enter the ball. Leon [Ayers III] helped us swing the momentum tonight, and when he locks in defensively, he can be a very good player for us."

ON THE GAME COMING DOWN TO THE FINAL PLAYS
"Yeah, the result could be different if one of our last shots went in, but it also could have if we did what we were supposed to do in the first half. Everybody says it comes down to the last few plays [of the game], and it does, but there are other plays that if we executed better it would not have come down to the final moments."

NOTABLES

Cummings scored a team-high 18 points. He moved past Bob Reeves (1,097) and Jerry Thurston (1,099) to 31^st place on Mercer's all-time scoring list.
Cummings is only three points away from passing Stephon Jelks for 30^th.
The Dickson, Tenn. native made 7-of-10 shots. He has hit six shots in there of Mercer's last four games.
Cummings has reached double figures in each of the past four games and in 14 of 16 contests this season. He made his 220^th career three-pointer in tonight's loss.
Ayers III pulled down eight boards and was one away from tying his career-high.
Ayers III's four assists were his second-most this season. He dished out five against Georgia State (Nov. 30).
Alvarez finished in double figures in both of the Bears' games this week. He averaged 14.0 points per game this week.
Alvarez's two blocks are a career-high.
Alvarez had a game-best five assists. He and Ayers III had a combined nine helpers.

UP NEXT
The Bears will return to Hawkins Arena for two contests next week. Mercer will host ETSU on Wednesday before welcoming the Samford Bulldogs to Macon on Saturday. Wednesday's game will start at 7 p.m. with Saturday's tip-off slated for 2 p.m. Both contests can be seen live on ESPN+ and heard on the Mercer Sports Network (100.9 The Creek, SportsMic).

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.