Men's Basketball to Hold Senior Night on Wednesday

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears men's basketball team will host Chattanooga in its final home contest of the season on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The coaching staff will honor Ross Cummings prior to tip-off.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
Matchup: Chattanooga (18-9, 9-6 SoCon) at Mercer (14-9, 7-8 SoCon)
Tickets: Click Here
Location: Macon, Ga. | Hawkins Arena
Hawkins Arena Protocols: Click Here
Promotion: $1 Tickets
Live Stats: bit.ly/3pQlNtQ
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Game Notes: Mercer | Chattanooga
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

LAST TIME OUT: HAASE AND THE BEARS LEAD WIRE-TO-WIRE IN WIN OVER THE CITADEL
Felipe Haase scored 17 points, all in the first half, to lead Mercer to a dominant 88-52 wire-to-wire win over The Citadel Bulldogs on Monday night. 15 different Bears received playing time in the rout with all players seeing the floor for at least three minutes. 13 of the 15 student-athletes contributed at least two points. James Glisson III landed in double figures for the second consecutive contest and sixth time in his sophomore campaign, tying his season-high of 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go along with five boards. In addition to the aforementioned Haase and Glisson III, Cummings reached double digits with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. The sharpshooting guard hit three of his six tries from beyond the arc, moving into 18th on Mercer's all-time scoring list with 1,201 career points. Shannon Grant was the fourth and final Bear in double figures, posting 10 points in 10 minutes, hitting double figures for the first time in his career. Mercer shot a scorching 53.0 percent (35-of-66) from the floor and held a 50-28 advantage on the glass. Four players – Haase (10), Neftali Alvarez (6), Glisson III (5) and Victor Bafutto (5) – grabbed at least five boards.

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' 1,201 points rank him 18th in program history. He passed Stair, his former teammate, with 15 points on Feb. 13.

Rk.       Name                               Pts.
13.       Woodrow Richardson 1,266
14.      Aleem Muhammad      1,261
15.       Richard Reid   1,246
16.       Bruce Gordy 1,227
17.       Pete Geter    1.206
18.       Ross Cummings 1,201

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 238 three-pointers made and is 19 away from the record.

Rk.       Name                           3's
1 Langston Hall              256
2.         James Florence           242
3.         Ross Cummings          238
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 ONE OF 10 SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALISTS
Mercer redshirt senior guard Ross Cummings was recently named a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. The committee narrowed down the original list of 30 to 10 student-athletes. 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 fan vote makes up part of the voting for the award which will be announced at the 2021 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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
Cummings is among the Southern Conference's active career scoring leaders.

Name                           School             Yr.        Points
Isaiah Miller                UNCG Sr. 1,823
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.    1,201

CUMMINGS IN THE NCAA STATS RANKINGS
The Dickson, Tenn., native 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                        12        44.22%
3 PT FGM        Season                        15        65 Makes
3 PT FG/GM    Season                        32        2.83
3 PT FGM        Career                         32        238 Makes
3 PT FG%        Career 33       41.340%

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.        271
Ross Cummings Mercer R-Sr.    238

SHARING IS CARING
Mercer is eighth nationally in total assists.
Rank    Ast.    School
1.           461      Belmont
2. 450 Iowa
3. 411 Gonzaga
4.         406 Eastern Kentucky
T-5.      396 Oakland
T-5.      396 Toledo
7.         393      Murray State
8.         391      Mercer
9.         390     St. John's
10.       379      McNeese

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. 35.8     Northeastern
T-6. 35.3 Oregon
T-6. 35.3 St. Mary's
8. 33.2 Mercer
9. 32.5 Utah
10. 32.4 Davidson

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 45-26 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 8-4
Total                45-26

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.

Men's Basketball to Hold Senior Night on Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Neftali Alvarez

Victor Bafutto

Ross Cummings

James Glisson III

Shannon Grant

Felipe Haase

Ethan Stair

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