Second Half Hurts Bears in 70-64 Loss to ETSU

Wednesday, February 3

Macon, Ga.

7:00 PM

Mercer University

10-7,3-6SoCon

ETSU

11-6,7-2SoCon

ETSU

Mercer

Photo by: Titouan Le Roux

Second Half Hurts Bears in 70-64 Loss to ETSU

2/3/2021 10:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Neftali Alvarez scored 17 points

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – After holding a 40-32 lead at the half, a difficult second half hurt the Mercer Bears in a 70-64 loss to the ETSU Bucs inside Hawkins Arena on Wednesday night.

Mercer (10-7, 3-6 SoCon) opened the game 15-29 (51.7 percent) from the floor and held its largest lead of the game at the half, 40-32. The Bears struggled to hit shots in the final period, connecting on just 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) of their connected, while the Bucs of ETSU made a sizzling 60 percent (15-of-25) of their tries.

ETSU's (11-6, 7-2 SoCon) lead hovered around the seven-point mark for the first 10 minutes of the opening half before the Bears clawed their way into the lead. Mercer pulled within a bucket with 8:37 until the intermission via a Felipe Haase basket and would do the same less than 120 seconds later when Jeff Gary connected from three-point range. Neftali Alvarez's driving layup tied the game at 28 with less than 6:30 to go, but the Orange & Black did not pull in front until Leon Ayers III dropped a three-pointer straight through the net three minutes later.

ETSU scored its 30^th point with 5:22 to go and was held scoreless by Mercer's stifling defense for nearly five minutes. After Ayers III put the Bears in front, 32-30, with 3:22 left in the half, the Bears scored the next six points with contributions from Ayers III, Gary and James Glisson III. The Bucs' final points of the first 20 second came with 29 seconds remaining, but Haase knocked down a pair of free throws to give Mercer a 40-32 halftime lead.

The visitors opened the final half by scoring the first six points to knot the contest at 40 before Ross Cummings drained his first three-pointer of the evening. With Mercer's lead later at three, Alvarez scored five straight points to push Mercer's advantage to 54-46 with 12:41 to play.

In similar fashion to Mercer in the first half, ETSU fought its way back to the lead, pulling in front prior to the under-eight media timeout off a Damari Monsanto trey. The Orange & Black got no closer than one, 58-57, for the remainder of the contest and went scoreless for 3:23 late in the game before Alvarez drove in the lane and converted an acrobatic old-fashioned three-point play. Alvarez's and-1 made it a 63-60 game, but ETSU held on for the 70-64 win.

Alvarez paced the Bears with 17 points and missed only four shots, going 7-of-11 from the floor. In only his second career start, Ayers III scored 13 points, including 11 in the first 20 minutes. Glisson III made his first start of the season and contributed six points and five boards in 29 minutes.

ETSU's Monsanto, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting. David Sloan contributed 14 points, and Silas Adheke turned in a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Greg Gary Quotables
ON JOVAN TUCKER AND JAMES GLISSON III
"If Jovan [Tucker] can continue to play hard it's great for us. He gives us another body who can defend and has some athleticism. Jovan is a guy who really cares. He has not played much all year and gave us good minutes tonight. We have to find him more minutes for him to develop further. James [Glisson III] is competing and fighting. That is half the battle. He has been playing well and deserved the start."

ON THE SECOND HALF
"We were not physical in the second half like we were in the first. Against teams like ETSU that are physical and tough minded, you must finish. We are looking for fouls, looking for contact instead of finishing strong. We are close [to finishing well]. We have lost games by three [at Wofford on Saturday] and tonight was six. We have to get stronger."

NOTABLES

Glisson III cracked the starting lineup for the first time this season. He played 29 minutes, his highest total of the season.
The changes to tonight's starting five marked the fourth different combination Gary's Bears have used in 2020-21. In addition to Glisson III, Ayers III started at guard for his second start of the campaign.
Cummings scored eight points and moved into sole possession of 28^th on Mercer's all-time scoring list.
A mere four points on Saturday will move the Dickson, Tenn. native into the top-25 as he would pass Jack Scott and Ledon Green who are currently tied for 25^th with 1,122 points.
The starting five combined for 75 percent of the Orange & Black's points, scoring 48 of the Bears' 64 in the loss.
Tucker played 12 minutes in relief and dished out a career-high three assists while providing a defensive spark.
Tucker's three helpers were second on the team. Alvarez had a team-best four.
Mercer held a 10-9 advantage in points off turnovers and scored 10 second chance points to ETSU's eight.
The Bears will now battle Samford for back-to-back contests starting Saturday in Hawkins Arena.

UP NEXT
A pair of games against the Samford Bulldogs await the Bears. Mercer will host the 'Dogs on Saturday at 2 p.m. before doing battle in Birmingham at 8 p.m. on February 10. Both games will be televised live on ESPN+, and Rick Cameron will have the radio call 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.