Mercer Defeats ETSU 82-76 On Senior Day

Saturday, February 28

Macon, Ga.

4:30 p.m.

Mercer University

19-12,11-7SoCon

East Tennessee State

21-10,13-5SoCon

ETSU

Mercer

2/28/2026 8:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer finishes season 14-1 at home

MACON, Ga. – Zaire Williams scored a game high 23 points and the Mercer men's basketball team earned a wire-to-wire 82-76 win over ETSU on Senior Day Saturday evening inside Hawkins Arena.

With the win the Bears conclude the regular season with a 19-12 overall record and 11-7 conference record. The Bears went 14-1 at home, their best record at home since the 2013-14 season when the Bears went 17-1 at home.

Mercer shot better than 50 percent from the floor for the fifth straight game as the Bears made 24-of-47 (51.1%) field goal attempts. The Bears also shot it well from deep making 11-of-21 (52.4%) of their three-pointers. ETSU finished 28-for-62 (45.2%) from the field and went 9-of-24 (37.5%) from deep.

The Bears did a good job of getting to the line more than the Bucs, however Mercer only shot 23-for-36 (63.9%) from the foul line. ETSU went 11-for-14 (78.6%) from the line.

Williams was one of five Mercer players to score in double figures. He led Mercer offensively with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 4-for-6 from three-point range. Mighty recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Baraka Okojie had 14 points with eight assists. Quinton Perkins shot the ball well from three, making four of his five three-point attempts.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Mercer 82, ETSU 76
RECORDS: Mercer (19-12, 11-7 SoCon), ETSU (21-10, 13-5 SoCon)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)

HOW IT HAPPENED
1ST HALF
Mercer started fast, as after Okojie got a steal, he led the fastbreak and lobbed a pass over to Mighty who threw down the dunk to give Mercer an early 9-2 lead. Connor Serven found Bendji Pierre who made his first three of the game to give Mercer a 20-8 lead.

Kyle Cuffe Jr. scored on an and-one to give the Bears a 30-21 lead. A few minutes later, Okojie found Mighty down low for a layup to make it a 38-26 lead for the Bears. Pierre knocked down his second three of the half to give Mercer its largest lead of the half at 46-31. The Bears would take a 49-35 lead into halftime.

2ND HALF
After ETSU scored the first five points of the second half to bring the deficit into single digits, Williams hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Mercer a 58-43 lead. An offensive rebound and lay in from Mighty gave the Bears a 64-54 lead with just over 10 minutes to play.

Then, ETSU went on a 9-3 run to get within four points at 67-63. A three-pointer from Perkins gave Mercer a 72-65 lead with six minutes to play. However, the Bucs once again chipped away at the Bears' lead and made it one-point game at 74-73 with three minutes remaining. It was the closest the Bucs had been all-game since it was 3-2, Mercer in the opening minutes of the game.

Williams made a tough pull-up jumper over a contested defender, which made it a two-possession game with 1:42 to play with Mercer in front, 78-74. On the following possesion for ETSU, the Bears were able to get a stop and defensive rebound. Okojie was then fouled and stepped up to the line and made both free throws to put Mercer in front, 80-74 with 31 seconds to play. The Bears were able to hold on for the 82-76 win.

NOTABLES
+ Mercer finished 14-1 at home this season. Its best home record since the 2013-14 season.
+ Mercer was just the second SoCon team all season to score 80 or more points in regulation against the Bucs.
+ Mercer shot 51.1 percent from the field. It was the fifth straight game the Bears have shot better than 50 percent from the field.
+ Armani Mighty recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
+ Zaire Williams led Mercer with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting. His 23 points were tied for the second most he's scored in a game this season.
+ Mercer handed ETSU just its second conference loss on the road this season.
+ Five Mercer players finished in double figures in scoring.
+ Rebounds were almost even as ETSU held a slight 33-32 edge on the glass.
+ Both teams got solid production from its bench as bench points were 28-23, ETSU.

UP NEXT
Mercer will head to Asheville, North Carolina for the SoCon Tournament. Mercer finished tied for second place in the SoCon regular season standings with an 11-7 conference record, but due to tiebreakers, the Bears will be the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Mercer will play the No. 5 seed Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday, March 7. Tip-off from Harrah's Cherokee Center is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

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