Bears Show Inside Dominance In Win Over Thomas

Thursday, December 21

Macon, Ga.

1 p.m.

Mercer University

6-6,0-0SoCon

Thomas

0-1

Thomas (GA)

Mercer

Bears Show Inside Dominance In Win Over Thomas

12/21/2023 3:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: Makenzie Jones, jones_m@mercer.edu

MACON – Home-standing Mercer tallied 42 points in the paint and pulled down its most offensive rebounds in more than a decade as the Bears cruised to a 98-75 victory over visiting Thomas on Thursday afternoon in Hawkins Arena.

Mercer (6-6) finished Thursday's outing with 22 offensive rebounds – its most since tallying 23 in a 95-53 win over Reinhardt on Nov. 13, 2013 – to wrap Orange & Black ribbon on its fourth-straight victory. It was the third loss in the last four outings for the Night Hawks (4-8) who fell to 0-7 away from Thomasville this season.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Mercer 98, Thomas 75
RECORDS: Mercer (6-6, 0-0 SoCon); Thomas (4-8, 0-0 SSAC)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST HALF

The Bears collected a dozen offensive rebounds in the first half alone which translated into 11 second-chance points and fueled a 50-36 advantage at the intermission. Mercer shot nearly 48 percent from the field in the opening stanza, but was not able to shake off the pesky Night Hawks until Jake Davis connected on the front end of a two-shot foul with 8:12 remaining to signal the start of nine-straight points for MU. Mercer also scored the last five points of the first half to take the 14-point lead into the locker rooms.

2ND HALF

Thomas pulled to within 11 points, 69-58, on an old-fashioned 3-pointer from Jarvis Brown with 11-1/2 minutes to play, but Mercer pulled away after that. The Bears padded their advantage out to 19 points, 78-59, nearly four minutes later, and used a 9-0 run after that to eventually lead by as many as 26 points, 89-63, after a 3-pointer from Amanza Ngumezi with 4:55 to play.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Senior Jalyn McCreary shot 6-for-12 from the field and 7-for-10 from the free throw line on the way to a team-best 19 points. He also added six rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks.
+ Freshman David Thomas came off of the bench to tally a season-best 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He also pulled down four boards and chipped in a trio of assists.
+ Sophomore Jah Quinones finished his afternoon with 13 points in 21 minutes of action. He raked in six boards and two assists as well.

NOTABLES

+ Twelve different players scored points for the Bears on Thursday, including freshmen Lukas Platauna (3 points) and Earnest Ofremu (2) who tallied the first points of their collegiate career.
+ Mercer has now won four-straight games – its longest winning skein since stringing together five-straight wins from Nov. 27-Dec. 11, 2021. The current four-game home win streak for the Orange & Black since it captured four-straight games in Macon from Jan. 5-22
+ The Bears tallied 10 or more steals for the second this season, but the first since posting 13 at Morehead State on November 14.

UP NEXT

Mercer will close out its six-game home stand on December 29 when it rings in the new year early by hosting Talladega (11-1) in a 1 p.m. matchup inside Hawkins Arena. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

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BACK THE BEARS

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