Mercer and VMI to Battle in SoCon Semifinals

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer Bears are making an appearance in the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2015 on Sunday night. No. 6 VMI awaits the Bears with the winner advancing to the SoCon Championship on Monday night.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Sunday, March 7, 2021 | 7:30 p.m.
Matchup: No. 6 VMI (13-11, 7-7 Socon) vs. No. 7 Mercer (17-10, 8-9 SoCon)
Location: Asheville, N.C. | Harrah's Cherokee Center
Live Stats: bit.ly/38hoqz4
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

LAST TIME OUT
After building a 17-point halftime lead, the Mercer men's basketball team withstood a furious comeback attempt by the Wofford Terries as Neftali Alvarez locked down Storm Murphy in the final seconds to give Mercer a 62-61 win. The win punches Mercer's ticket to the semifinals of the 2021 Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale Brick for the first time since 2015. Leon Ayers III led the Bears with a quiet 16 points as he shot 7-of-12 for the second night in a row. Jeff Gary contributed 14 points with a solid night beyond the arc. Alvarez was the third and final Bear in double figures with 13 points. On Sunday, it's a battle of No. 7 (Mercer) and No. 6 (VMI).

CUMMINGS, ALVAREZ NAMED ALL-SOCON
Mercer's Ross Cummings and Neftali Alvarez were both honored by the Southern Conference coaches and media as All-SoCon selections, the league office announced Tuesday afternoon. Cummings received second team honors from the head coaches and third team recognition from the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA), while Alvarez received third team honors from both groups.

MERCER IN THE SOCON TOURNAMENT
Mercer continued its streak of making the quarterfinals each year it has been in the SoCon. Mercer topped Samford, 87-59, to reach the SoCon Quarterfinals on Saturday evening. The Bears will take on No. 2 Wofford at 5:30 p.m.

Year   Seed        Final Result.
2015    3              52-49 loss to No. 10 Furman in the semifinals
2016    7              81-65 loss to No. 2 ETSU in the quarterfinals
2017    6              73-66 loss to No. 3 ETSU in the quarterfinals
2018    4              73-53 loss to No. 5 Wofford in the quarterfinals
2019    6              85-74 loss to No. 3 Furman in the quarterfinals
2020   4              70-56 loss to No. 5 Western Carolina in the quarterfinals
2021    7              Advanced to the semifinals with a 62-61 win over Wofford. Will play VMI on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

16TH AND CLIMBING
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' 1,237 points rank him 16th in program history.

Rk.     Name Pts.
11.       Billy Smith                        1,360
12.      Stewart Reese             1,348
13.      Woodrow Richardson 1,266
14.      Aleem Muhammad 1,261
15.       Richard Reid 1,246
16.       Ross Cummings 1,237

SIGHTS ON THE THREE-POINT RECORD
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. On Feb. 24, which was also his Senior Night, Cummings knocked down four three-pointers to tie Florence for second all-time in program history. He needs just 11 treys to overtake Hall for the program record.

Rk.       Name 3's
1          Langston Hall               256
2.         Ross Cummings          246
3.         James Florence           242
4.         E.J. Kusnyer                 190
5.         Bud Thomas 161

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. Fans can vote at www.seniorclassaward.com/vote. Voting ends March 22.

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
The redshirt senior guard is among the Southern Conference's active career scoring leaders.

Name                           School             Yr.        Points
Isaiah Miller                 UNCG             Sr.        1,904
Storm Murphy            Wofford Sr.        1.305
David Jean-Baptiste   UTC                 Sr.        1,279
Clay Mounce Furman Sr.        1,269
Matt Halvorsen             WCU Sr.        1,266
Ross Cummings          Mercer R-Sr.    1,237

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
3 PT FGM        Season                        T-12 73 Makes
3PT FG%         Season                        13 42.7%
3 PT FG/GM    Season                        T-33     2.70
3 PT FGM        Career                         27        246 Makes
3 PT FG%        Career                         34        41.30%

DON't LEAVE HIM OPEN! CUMMINGS AMONG SOCON'S BEST FROM DISTANCE
The sharpshooting Cummings is third among active SoCon players career in three-pointers made.

Name                           School             Yr.        3's
Matt Halvorsen WCU                Sr.        298
Kaiden Rice                Citadel             Sr.        272
Ross Cummings        Mercer             R-Sr.    243

SHARING IS CARING
The Bears are fifth nationally in total assists.

Rk.          Ast.          School
1. 527              Belmont
2.                 501 Iowa
3.                 461 Eastern Kentucky
4. 449              Gonzaga
5. 455             Mercer
6. 450              Abilene Christian
7. 446             Murray State
8. 435 Murray State
9. 419 McNeese
10. 414 Oakland

POINTS FROM OVERSEAS
Mercer ranks eighth nationally in points from players overseas.

Rank PPG. School
1. 58.9 Cal Baptist
2.         42.1      Montana State
3. 41.2 Hawaii
4.        36.6 Grand Canyon
5.        36.4 Oregon
6. 35.5 Northeastern
7. 34.5 St. Mary's
8. 32.8 Utah
9. 32.7 UC Riverside
10. 31.6 Mercer

HOME RECORD IN 2020-21
With the win over Chattanooga on Wednesday night, the Bears closed out the home portion of the schedule with a 9-4 record. Since the 2016-17 season, Mercer is 46-26 overall in Hawkins.

HEADING TO THE NATION'S OLDEST TOURNAMENT? IT'S TRUE
The Southern Conference tournament is the longest running conference tournament in the entire country. The 2021 tournament marks the 101st edition. Only two conferences - the Atlantic Coast Conference (67 in 2021) and the Southeastern Conference (61 in 2021) have held at least 60 tournaments. The Ohio Valley Conference sits fourth with 56 completed tournaments. The MEAC rounds out the top-five with 48 tournaments with the 49th edition to be held this season.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Neftali Alvarez

Leon Ayers III

Ross Cummings

Jeff Gary

Ethan Stair

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