Bears Set for SoCon Title Game Showdown with UNCG

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer Bears are set for a Monday night showdown with the UNCG Spartans in the Southern Conference championship game. It is Mercer's first trip to the title game, which will air on ESPN at 7 p.m.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Monday, March 8, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
Matchup: No. 1 UNCG (20-8, 13-5 SoCon) vs. No. 7 Mercer (18-10, 8-9 SoCon)
Location: Asheville, N.C. | Harrah's Cherokee Center
Live Stats: bit.ly/3qkNQC0
Live Video: ESPN & ESPN Online
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

LAST TIME OUT
Neftali Alvarez scored 23 points to propel the Mercer men's basketball squad to its first-ever Southern Conference championship game via a 73-59 win over the VMI Keydets on Sunday. arlier Sunday, the Mercer women clinched the SoCon title with a win over Wofford. Should the men hoist the championship trophy on Monday night, it will mark the first time since 2016 that two programs from the same school won the tournament title. In addition to Alvarez's 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting, the Bears received impressive showings from Felipe Haase (15 points and 11 rebounds) and Leon Ayers III (14 points). Haase's double-double was his second in the past six games. He shot 50 percent from the floor and made three three-pointers. Ayers III was over 50 percent for the third time in as many games, going 5-of-9 (55.6 percent). As a team, the Bears connected on 42.6 percent (29-of-68) of their tries and made 11-of-31 three-pointers. (35.5 percent). The Bears will battle UNCG, the top seed, at 7 p.m. on Monday night in the winner-take-all SoCon title game. Mercer last made the tournament in 2014. That year, the Bears upset Duke.

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 losss 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              Will battle No. 1 UNCG on Monday in the championship

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' 1,239 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 1,239

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.    1,239

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-16      73 Makes
3PT FG%         Season                        27        41.0%
3 PT FG/GM    Season                       53        2.61
3 PT FGM        Career                        28        246 Makes

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 third nationally in total assists.
Rk.       Ast.      School
1. 547      Belmont
2. 518 Iowa
3. 468 Mercer
4.         461      Eastern Kentucky
5.         450 Abilene Christian
6.         449 Gonzaga
7.         446 Liberty
8. 445 Toledo
9. 442 Loyola Chicago
10. 435      Murray State

POINTS FROM OVERSEAS
Mercer ranks 10th 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. 31.9 Mercer

TWO TEAMS, TWO TITLES
Mercer is looking to become the first school since Chattanooga in 2016 to win both the men's and women's titles in the same year. On Sunday, the Mercer women won their title in four seasons under legendary head coach Susie Gardner. The men are trying to become the first since the 1930s to win four consecutive games and clinch the championship. Should the men win, Mercer will be the first University since Chattanooga in 2016 to have its men's and women's teams win conference championships in the same season.

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.

Bears Set for SoCon Title Game Showdown with UNCG

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Players Mentioned

Neftali Alvarez

Leon Ayers III

Ross Cummings

Felipe Haase

Ethan Stair

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