Okojie And Perkins Power Mercer Past Samford, 89-86

Saturday, February 21

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

18-11,10-6SoCon

Samford

16-13,9-7SoCon

Samford

Mercer

Okojie And Perkins Power Mercer Past Samford, 89-86

2/21/2026 7:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer ends Samford's 6-game winning streak

MACON, Ga. – Baraka Okojie and Quinton Perkins II combined to score 46 points to help lead Mercer past Samford, 89-86 Saturday afternoon from Hawkins Arena.

With the win, Mercer snaps Samford's 6-game winning streak and improves to 13-1 at home this season. Neither team led by more than seven points in a game that saw 17 lead changes.

Mercer shot the bell well going 32-for-50 (64.0%) from the field and made 7-of-17 (34.2%) three-pointers. Samford finished shooting 30-for-64 (46.9%) from the field and made 6-of-16 (37.5%) of its three-point attempts.

Mercer had a slight edge on the glass with 32 rebounds to 28 for Samford. Points in the paint were close as well with Mercer owning a 42-36 edge.

Okojie led Mercer with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go with six rebounds and five assists. Perkins started for the first time since the SoCon opener at Furman on Jan. 1. He finished with a season high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting and made 4-of-5 three-pointers. Armani Mighty recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Mercer 89, Samford 86
RECORDS: Mercer (18-11, 10-6 SoCon), Samford (16-13, 9-7 SoCon)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)

HOW IT HAPPENED
1ST HALF
A three-pointer from Okojie gave Mercer an early 9-6 lead. Perkins and Zaire Williams made back-to-back threes to give the Bears a 21-15 lead. With a little more than six minutes to play in the half, Okojie found Serven cutting to the basket and Serven rose and slammed home a monstrous dunk over a leaping Samford defender to give the Bears a 32-31 lead.

A short jumper from Mighty gave mercer a 38-35 lead with three minutes to play in the half. With seconds ticking down in the half, Perkins made a difficult contested three-pointer that beat the halftime buzzer by a second to give Mercer the lead going into halftime at 44-41.

2ND HALF
An and-one from Perkins gave Mercer its largest lead of the game at 57-50. After Samford fought back and briefly took a one-point lead, Okojjie drained a pull-up jumper to put Mercer back in front, 63-62. A few minutes later, Williams made a three-pointer to once again give the Bears a one-point lead at 68-67 with eight minutes to play.

A pair of free throws from Perkins gave the Bears a 76-72 lead with four minutes remaining. A layup from Mighty gave Mercer an 85-82 lead with 59 seconds to play. After a basket from Samford's Jadin Booth who finished with 26 points, the Bulldogs elected to foul the Bears with a four second difference between the game clock and shot clock.

Okojie stepped up and made the two free throws to give Mercer an 87-84 lead with 14 seconds to go. On Samford's following offensive possession, the Bulldogs were unable to even get a shot off, as they instead turned the ball over on an errant pass. Okojie once again made two free throws after a Samford foul with seven seconds left to ice the game.

NOTABLES
+ With the win, Mercer snaps Samford's 6-game winning streak and improves to 13-1 at home.
+ Quinton Perkins scored a season high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
+ Armani Mighty recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
+ Okojie finished with 25 points for his fifth straight game with at least 20 points.
+ Mercer shot a season best 64.0 percent from the field.
+ Mercer outrebounded Samford, 32-28. The Bears are now 16-2 when outrebounding their opponent.

UP NEXT
Mercer travels to Cullowhee, North Carolina to play Western Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Ingles Court.

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