Bears Visit Cullowhee on Saturday

Saturday, February 19

Cullowhee, N.C.

2:00 PM

Mercer University

Western Carolina

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

2/18/2022 12:09:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Mercer set to travel to Western Carolina with tip slated at 2 p.m.

By: Jake List

COLLOWHEE, N.C. – The Mercer Bears will travel to Cullowhee, N.C. to face Western Carolina University in the Ramsey Center on Saturday, Feb. 19 with tip-off slated for 2 P.M. available to stream on ESPN+.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2022 | 2 p.m.
Matchup: Mercer (15-13, 8-7 SoCon ) at WCU (9-19, 3-12 SoCon)
Location: Cullowhee, N.C. | Ramsey Center
Live Stats: SideArmStats
Radio: Listen Here
TV: Stream on ESPN+ / Watch Here
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

LAST TIME OUT:
Mercer took down ETSU in Macon, Ga. 65-56 on Wednesday, February 16, in the Hawkins Arena. Felipe Haase led Mercer with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field while going 100% at the line. Jalen Johnson was right behind Haase with 16 points and four rebounds in 29 minutes on the court. Sophomore center, Shannon Grant rounded out the double digit scoring for the Bears as he finished in double figures for the fourth time this season with 13 points and recording six rebounds. Jovan Tucker finished with eight points while going 100% from the field and beyond the arc.

The Bears improve to 15-13 overall and 8-7 in the Southern Conference, while the Bucs drop to 13-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play.

It was a slow start for the Bears and Bucs. At the first media timeout, ETSU and Mercer only scored a combined six points with the Bucs leading 4-2.

Grant would keep up the game's momentum by scoring Mercer's first six points. ETSU's Matt Nunez scored to put the Bucs up 13-6, but on the next two Mercer possessions Johnson and Haase would connect on back-to-back threes to pull within three points of the Bucs, 15-12 with 12:12 remaining in the first half.

Coming out of the media timeout, ETSU would extend their lead to nine with a three by David Sloan. The Bears answered right away with a three by Jovan Tucker to cut the lead to six, 26-20. ETSU's King would extend the Bucs lead to 10 after making another three-pointer with 6:52 remaining in the half. King led ETSU with 15 points and 3 three-pointers in the first half.

Mercer would continue to battle for the rest of the first half, but the Bucs went into halftime with a nine-point lead, 42-33.

It was all Mercer in the second half. ETSU's Ledarrius Brewer made a layup on their first offensive possession to open the second half, but Mercer's defense would not allow another basket until the Bucs scored again with 10:04 remaining in the game.

The Bucs battled back to tie the game at 50-50 with 7:27 remaining, but the Bear's Tucker would take the ball in for a layup on the next possession to take the lead back, 52-50. The Bears defense held the Bucs to only four points for the rest of the game. The Bears would eventually go on to force a total of 11 turnovers, have five blocks, and hold the Bucs to a season-low points scored in a single half. Mercer ended the game on a 13-6 run to beat ETSU, 65-56, in Hawkins Arena.

SERIES HISTORY:
Mercer has won 6 of the last 9 games over the Catamounts and lead the series, 12-11 as of Dec. 8, 1978. The Bears most recently defeated WCU earlier in the season 72-64 on Jan. 22 in Macon, Georgia where Mercer finished the game 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the field, 9-for-26 (34.6 percent) behind the arc, and 11-for-13 (84.6 percent) at the free throw line. .

SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS:
WCU (9-19, 3-12 SoCon) most recently fell to Furman (18-10, 10-5). Junior Marlow Gilmore tallied a career-best 15 points to lead five Western Carolina players in double figures, but Furman rode a strong opening half to a 103-85 win on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center on Wednesday night.

The Paladins opened a 27-point lead in the first half before the Catamounts chipped away at the deficit, but we're never able to carve the margin back to single digits in the home loss.

Gilmore surpassed his previous high of 14 points, finishing the game 6-for-7 from the field and 3-for-4 at the free throw line off the bench for WCU. He also grabbed four rebounds. Tyler Harris and Vonterius Woolbright tallied 13 points each followed by Marvin Prince with 12 and Cam Bacote with 11. Bacote distributed a career-best seven assists.

The Paladins opened Wednesday's game on a 10-0 run and led 15-3 following a Garrison 3-pointer at the 15:29 mark. Following a Joe Petrakis three at the 12-minute mark that made the score 24-11, the Paladins tallied 24 of the next 28 points to lead 42-15 with just over seven minutes remaining before halftime. The Catamounts battled back down the stretch as Price sank a pair of free throws to send WCU into halftime trailing 51-36.

A Gilmore layup opened the second half scoring as the Catamounts cut the Paladin lead to 11, 64-53, after a Bacote jumper with just under 15 minutes remaining in regulation. Bothwell answered on the ensuing Furman possession with a 3-pointer as the Catamounts got no closer the rest of the way.

Furman finished the game 34-for-71 (47.9 percent) from the field, 15-for-36 (41.7 percent) behind the arc, and 20-for-23 (87 percent) at the free throw line. Of Furman's 15 made 3-pointers, nine came in the opening half. WCU was 29-for-59 (49.2 percent), 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) on 3-point attempts, and 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) at the charity stripe. Furman held a 41-28 advantage in rebounds.

UP NEXT GRAPHIC:

𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐔𝐩 - 2/19/22 l @CatamountMBB

🏀: Ramsey Center | 2 P.M.
🖥: Stream on @ESPNPlus
📊: StatBroadcast
📻: Mercer Sports Radio / https://t.co/5CEtLcFktx #LetsRoar x #BearNation pic.twitter.com/zPTIlOEZVN
— Mercer Men's Basketball (@MercerMBB) February 17, 2022

THE SOCON RACE:
The Bears are currently in a four way tie for fourth in the conference with an 8-7 record in conference play.

Team              SoCon             Overall
Chattanooga    12-3                 q22-6
Furman            10-5                 18-10
VMI                8-7                   15-12
UNCG             8-7                   16-11
Wofford          8-7                   16-11
Mercer           8-7                   15-13
Samford          7-7                   17-9
The Citadel     5-9                   11-14
ETSU              5-10                 13-15
Western Carolina   3-12          9-19

SHARING IS CARING:
Mercer is fourth as a team in the Southern Conference in assists while averaging 14.9 assists per game. Felipe Haase leads Mercer with a 2.0 assist to turnover ratio.

Rk.      Name (School)              Avg.
1.         Alex Hunter - FUR       3.2
2.         Ryan Larson - WOF     2.3
3.         David Sloan - ETSU     2.2
4.         Trey Bonham - VMI     2.1
5.         Felipe Haase - MER   2.0

FREEBIES AT THE CHARITY STRIPE:
Haase is ranked first in the Southern Conference making 87.0% percent of his free throws attempted. Haase has attempted 92 FTs so far on the season.

Rk.      Name (School).             FTM    FTA Avg.
1.         Felipe Haase - MER     80       92        .870
2.         Max Klesmit - WOF       66 77        .867
3.         Mike Bothwell - FUR     82      98        .838

SHARPSHOOTING:
The sharpshooting Felipe Haase and Jalen Johnson are within the top 10 in the league for three-point field goal proficiency. Furman and Mercer are the only two teams that have two or more people representing themselves within the top 10, proving just how effective they are from behind the arc.

Rk.      Name (School).                             3PTA.  3PTM.   Avg.
1.         Joe Anderson - FUR                      35        72        .486
2.         Jake Stephens - VMI                     59        127      .465
3.         De'Monte Buckingham - UNCG  57        130      .438
4.         Jordan King - ETSU                     86        198      .434
5.         Conley Garrison - FUR                 60        139      .432
6.         Felipe Haase - MER                    64        151      .424
7.         Alex Hunter - FUR                        93        224      .415
8.         Jason Roche - CIT                         97        234      .415
9.         Jalen Johnson - MER                  70        171      .409

HOME SWEET HOME:
Hawkins Arena has been kind to the Bears in recent years. Each of the past two seasons, Mercer has earned nine wins on their home floor. Below is Mercer's record at home since the 2019-20 campaign. Since the beginning of the Greg Gary era, Mercer is 28-13 at home during his current campaign.

Season          Record
2019-20           9-6
2020-21 9-4
2021-22           10-3
Total               28-13

UP NEXT:
The Bears will travel to Cullowhee, N.C to meet Western Carolina on Saturday, Feb. 19 in the Ramsey Center. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. ET and can be streamed on ESPN+ or heard on the Mercer Sports Network with Rick Cameron on the call.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW | SENIOR NIGHT:
The Bears' next home game is on Wednesday, Feb. 23 against The Citadel at 7 p.m.

Tickets for the Feb. 23 game can be purchased HERE.
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.