Mercer and The Citadel Set for Monday Showdown

MACON, Ga. – Greg Gary's Mercer Bears will start the final week of the regular season by hosting Duggar Baucom's Citadel Bulldogs at 7 p.m. on Monday evening.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
Matchup: The Citadel (12-9, 5-9 SoCon) at Mercer (13-9, 6-8 SoCon)
Tickets: Click Here
Location: Macon, Ga. | Hawkins Arena
Hawkins Arena Protocols: Click Here
Live Stats: bit.ly/3sdNDSD
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

LAST TIME OUT: MERCER FALLS TO FURMAN, 70-60, IN HAWKINS ARENA
Neftali Alvarez and Felipe Haase combined for 37 points on Saturday afternoon, but the Mercer Bears fell to the Furman Paladins, 70-60, in Hawkins Arena. Alvarez paced Mercer with 20 points, reaching the 20-point mark for the third time this season and second time in four games. 18 of the redshirt sophomore guard's 20 points came in the second half. Alvarez shot 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) and dished out three dimes while pulling down a      pair of rebounds. Haase contributed 17 points in the loss and shot 6-of-12 (50 percent) with three three-pointers. James Glisson III continued his solid play with 11 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes. After shooting a cool 36.7 percent (11-of-30) in the opening half, Mercer warmed up slightly, knocking down 42.9 percent (12-of-28) of its tries in the second half. The Bears ended the afternoon 23-of-58 (39.7 percent) from the field and 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) from three-point land.

STEADILY CLIMBING THE SCORING RANKS
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. 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' 1,182 points rank him 20th in program history. He passed Stair, his former teammate, with 15 points on Feb. 13.

Rk.       Name                           Pts.
15.       Richard Reid                1,246
16.       Bruce Gordy 1,227
17.       Pete Geter 1.206
18.       Jordan Strawberry 1,200
19.       Scott Bailey 1,197
20.       Ross Cummings 1,190

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 235 three-pointers made and is 22 away from the record.

Rk.       Name                           3's
1          Langston Hall              256
2.         James Florence          242
3.         Ross Cummings 235
4.         E.J. Kusnyer 190
5.         Bud Thomas                161

RECENT NOTABLE WINS OVER p5 SCHOOLS
Over the last 10 years, Mercer has stunned several Power-5 foes on the court. The Bears' most notable win was during the 2014 NCAA Tournament when Mercer upset No.3 Duke, 78-71, to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Date                 Opponent                    Result
12/22/11          at Georgia Tech            W, 65-59
12/02/12         at Florida State             W, 61-56
12/22/12         at Alabama W, 66-59
3/20/13 at Tennessee                W, 75-67
12/22/13 at Mississippi W, 79-76
3/21/14 Duke W, 78-71
12/19/15          at Arkansas W, 69-66(OT)
11/27/20          at Georgia Tech            W, 83-73

CUMMINGS A CANDIDATE: SENIOR GUARD ONE OF 30 SENIOR C.L.A.S.S. AWARD CANDIDATES
Mercer redshirt senior guard Ross Cummings was the lone Southern Conference men's basketball player selected as a candidate for the Senior C.L.A.S.S. Award, the committee announced. Only 30 NCAA Division I men's basketball players nationwide are selected as candidates for the prestigious award. To be eligible for the honor, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

A decorated student, Cummings is currently working towards his Masters in Higher Education Leadership and boasts a near perfect GPA. He has been named to the Southern
Conference's Academic Honor Roll on two occasions.

CUMMINGS HIGH AMONG SOCON'S ACTIVE SCORING LEADERS
Ross Cummings is among the Southern Conference's active career scoring leaders.

Name                           School             Yr.        Points
Isaiah Miller                 UNCG Sr. 1,808
Storm Murphy           Wofford Sr.        1.279
David Jean-Baptiste UTC Sr.        1,247
Clay Mounce Furman Sr. 1,231
Matt Halvorsen WCU Sr.        1,227
Ross Cummings          Mercer R-Sr.    1,190

CUMMINGS IN THE NCAA STATS RANKINGS
Ross Cummings is featured the NCAA statistical rankings for both the season and his career. See below for more info.

Category        Season/Career           Rank    Percent/Number
3PT FG%         Season                        14 43.98%
3 PT FGM        Season                        23        62 Makes
3 PT FG/GM    Season                        33        2.82
3PT FG%         Career 36        41.30%
3 PT FGM        Career 33        235 Makes

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.        288
Kaiden Rice                 Citadel             Sr.        270
Ross Cummings Mercer             R-Sr.    235

SHARING IS CARING
Mercer is 10^th nationally in total assists.
Rank    Ast. School
1. 461      Belmont
2.         431      Iowa
3. 411      Gonzaga
T-4. 396     Toledo
T-4. 396     Oakland
6.         393 Murray State
7.         390 St. John's
8.         387 Eastern Kentucky
9.         379     McNeese
10.       376 Mercer

POINTS FROM OVERSEAS
The Bears are ninth in the country in points per game from international players.
Rank    PPG.    School
1 59.6     Cal Baptist
2. 41.6 Hawaii
3. 40.9     Montana State
4.         40.8     Grand Canyon
5. 36.6     Oregon
6. 35.8 Northeastern
7. 35.3 St. Mary's
8. 33.5 Davidson
9. 33.3 Mercer
10. 32.5 Utah

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 44-26 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 7-4
Total                44-26

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.

Mercer and The Citadel Set for Monday Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Neftali Alvarez

Ross Cummings

James Glisson III

Felipe Haase

Ethan Stair

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