Bears Overpower Bulldogs to Begin SoCon Tournament

Friday, March 5

Asheville, N.C.

8:00 PM

Mercer University

16-10,8-9SoCon

Samford (First Round)

6-13,2-9SoCon

Samford

Mercer

Photo by: Todd Drexler/SESPORTSMEDIA.com

Bears Overpower Bulldogs to Begin SoCon Tournament

3/6/2021 12:21:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Three players scored 17 points each for the Bears.

By: Kraig Doremus

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer men's basketball team picked up a dominant 87-59 win over the Samford Bulldogs in the first round of the 2021 Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale Brick to advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.

Mercer (16-10 overall) nearly led wire-to-wire, but officially took the lead for good early in the first half when Felipe Haase made his first of five three-pointers on the night. Haase's trey made it a 6-4 game less than five minutes in, and the Bears quickly extended their lead. The Orange & Black held a 10-8 lead with 13:06 to play in the opening half but had extended the lead to 14 points thanks to clutch offense from Ross Cummings and Leon Ayers III, both of whom ended the night with 17 points. Cummings began the run by hitting three free throws after he was fouled on a shot attempt from beyond the arc. He followed his successes at the charity stripe with a layup before forcing the Bulldogs to cough up the ball. Cummings found Ayers III in transition for the bucket, and on each of the Bears' next two possessions, Ayers III scored to contribute seven points to the run.

Samford (6-13 overall) clawed its way back to within five via a 9-0 spurt. Jacob Tryon's three-pointer with 9:05 to play was followed by Marcellus Vail's jumper before Logan Dye contributed the final four points of the run. Dye's free throws with 7:23 to play made it a 22-17 game before James Glisson III's free throws sparked a 7-0 Bears run in response that included a trey from Cummings and jumper from Neftali Alvarez.

The Bears took a double-digit lead for good with 3:33 left until the intermission via Kamar Robertson's layup, which put them ahead by 11. The 11-point lead was eventually pushed to as many as 17 by the half with Mercer taking a 39-22 lead into the locker room.

Within the first 45 seconds of the second half, Samford had trimmed three points off the Bears' advantage, but fans watching on ESPN+ or listening on Rick Cameron's radio call had little reason to worry as Haase drained his third three-pointer of the game, extending Mercer's lead to 20 points for the first time.

While many inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center would have considered the Bears' offense to be in top form early in the second half, the buckets did not start to pour in until after the midway mark of the final half. The Bears lead by 19 with 9:54 to play, and quickly used a 7-0 spurt to push their lead to a seemingly unbreakable 26 points, 67-41. Samford's Jaron Rillie answered the run but was unable to help the tenth-seeded Bulldogs establish any momentum on the offensive end. Haase's final two three-pointers of the convincing win were the catalyst for a 10-0 scoring run that saw the Bears push their advantage over 30 points with still more than five minutes remaining. Haase's last trey gave the Orange & Black its largest lead of the night, 77-43.

The Bulldogs managed to trim nine points off Mercer's lead in the last minutes of play, but the Bears' bench contributed the final 10 points of the night with Jacksen Greco's three-pointer being the final points of a dominant 87-59 triumph in the opening round of the league tournament.

Mercer was led by a trio of players who scored 17 points each – Ayers III, Cummings and Haase. The three players alone shot 17-of-31 (54.8 percent) from the floor and 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) at the charity stripe. Cummings made three triples and is 11 from overtaking Langston Hall for the program record. Haase was 6-of-9 in the victory and tied a season-high with five connections from beyond the arc. Of the three players, Ayers III had the best shooting percentage, going 7-of-12 (58.3 percent). In addition to the aforementioned trio, Glisson III scored 12 points to give Mercer a quartet of players in double figures. The Bears shot 31-of-44 (47.0 percent) from the floor and pulled down 43 rebounds.

Despite shooting only 3-of-12, Dye made all six of his free throw attempts to pace the Bulldogs with 12 points. Preston Parks also struggled from the floor (4-of-12, 33.3 percent) but found his way into double figures. First-year head coach Bucky McMillan's squad battled throughout the contest but could not overcome a cold-shooting night. The 'Dogs made only 20-of-66 tries for a 30.3 shooting percentage.

Coach Greg Gary Quotables

Full Audio

ON THE EFFORT DEFENSIVELY
"Our guys started with great energy and toughness. That's what you have to do in these situations. We did a really good job of playing defense in the first half and that helped us get some transition baskets. It's a lot easier to score when you don't have to take the ball out of the net. Our defense really started our offense tonight."

ON SHARING THE BASKETBALL
"We had 21 assists on 31 baskets, and that means we shared the ball well. It's one of the first things I look at on the stat sheet. We have good offensive skill guys, so when we share the ball around like that, we can have some success. When we move the ball and help each other we're hard to guard.

ON POTENTIALLY PLAYING FOUR NIGHTS IN A ROW
"We put ourselves in this position, so we have to live with it. We had to win our first game, and we did. Now we have to keep winning if we want to keep playing."

NOTABLES

Mercer moved to 3-0 against Samford in 2020-21
The tournament win was Mercer's first since an opening round triumph over The Citadel in 2016.
Cummings moved into sole possession of 16^th on Mercer's all-time scoring list with 1,232 points. He passed Bruce Gordy in the win and is 15 points away from overtaking Richard Reid for 15^th.
Cummings has now made 246 treys and is 11 away from breaking Langston Hall's program record.
Ayers III reached double figures for the first time in the past five games.
Ayers III led the Mercer reserves in scoring for the first time since January 30 at Wofford.
The Orange & Black shot better than 75 percent at the charity stripe for the sixth straight game.
Freshman John Treanor scored his first collegiate points in the win.
The Orange & Black tallied at least 15 assists for the 21^st time this season and 20-plus helpers for the fifth game.
The Bears' 12 three-pointers are tied for their second-best total this season. Mercer made 13 in a December win over Southern Wesleyan.
Mercer is now 16-0 when leading with five minutes remaining.
The two teams each collected 43 rebounds. Mercer is 3-0 when grabbing the same number of rebounds as its opponent.
Mercer improved to 10-3 when scoring at least 80 points.
When the Bears allow less than 60 points, they are 3-0.
Nighttime has been favorable to Middle Georgia's team. Mercer has posted nine wins in games starting after 6 p.m.
The Bears played on Friday for the first time since a November 27 win at Georgia Tech. The Orange & Black are 2-0 overall on the last day of the work week.
Samford's 59 points were its second-lowest total of the season.
The Bears also held the Bulldogs to a season-worst 30.3 percent from the floor.

UP NEXT
The No. 7 Bears will battle No. 2 Wofford at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Fans can watch live on select Nexstar affiliates and ESPN+. Fans wishing to tune into the radio broadcast may listen to Rick Cameron on the Mercer Sports Network – 100.9 The Creek and 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.