Mercer Falls Short In Last Second To Samford, 75-74

Wednesday, January 15

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

9-9,2-3SoCon

Samford

15-3,5-0SoCon

Samford

Mercer

Mercer Falls Short In Last Second To Samford, 75-74

1/15/2025 10:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Ahmad Robinson scored a season high 29 points

MACON, Ga. – Ahmad Robinson scored a career high 29 points, but a Samford free throw with less than one second on the clock gave the Bulldogs a 75-74 win over the Bears Wednesday night from Hawkins Arena.

Robinson caused problems for Samford's defense all night on his way to 29 points including 12-14 from the free throw line and added nine rebounds, four assists and five steals on the night.

Johnson added 20 points for the Bears going 5-for-10 from three-point range. Freshman Brady Shoulders had his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Alex holt had his third double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Mercer went 23-for-61 (37.7%) from the field to Samford's 27-for-60 (45.0%). The rebounding margin was tight with Mercer holding a 43-39 edge on the glass.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Samford 75, Mercer 74
RECORDS: Mercer 9-9, 2-3 (SoCon); Samford 15-3, 5-0 (SoCon)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)

HOW IT HAPPENED
1ST HALF
Robinson connected on his first three-pointer of the night to make it a 10-8 lead for Samford. Robinson converted an and-one opportunity which tied the game at 17. Johnson made his second three of the first half which brought Mercer within two at 26-24.

Samford stretched its lead ton six at 36-30, but the Bears responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Johnson and Shoulders to tie the game. Samford would take at 41-38 lead into halftime.

2ND HALF
Samford came out fast with a 7-2 run to take a 48-40 lead. After a fastbreak alley-opp from Johnson to Cam Bryant, the Bulldogs finished on the other end with a layup to go up 10 at 59-49 with 13 minutes to play. Four minutes later, the Bulldogs still led by 10 at 69-59. Mercer would then go on a 10-1 run that was finished off by a tip-in by Shoulders off a missed shot with just under four minutes to play.

With 50 seconds remaining and trailing 74-72, Johnson hit a baseline jumper to tie the game at 74 with 25 seconds to play. On the following possession for Samford, Robinson stripped Samford's Rylan Jones and went the other way on a fastbreak layup, but his shot was blocked by a Samford defender sprinting back. Mercer inbounded the ball under Samford's basket with 1.8 seconds on the clock, however with no one open, Jah Quinones threw the ball off the Back of Samford's Jones who grabbed the ball before Quinones and was fouled with 0.9 seconds on the clock. Jones made 1-of-2 free throws to give Samford the 75-74 win.

NOTABLES
+ All three of Mercer's conference losses this season have been by 3 points or less (2 vs ETSU, 3 vs Western Carolina, 1 vs Samford).
+ Ahmad Robinson scored a career high 29 points surpassing his previous career high of 28 points. It was his fifth game of the season with at least 25 points.
+ Freshman Brady Shoulders came off the bench for the first time since Nov. 16 at South Alabama and earned his first career double-double.
+ Mercer went 19-for-24 (79.2%) from the line in the game, including 17-for-19 (89.5%) from the line in the second half. The 19 made free throws were the second most in a game this season for the Bears.
+ The Bears outrebounded Samford 43-39; it was the first time the Bulldogs were outrebounded by a conference opponent this season.
+ Alex Holt had his second consecutive double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. He went 5-for-10 from the field and has now made at least 50 percent of his field goal attempts in all five conference games this season.

UP NEXT
Mercer goes back on the road to play Wofford in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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