The Mercer men’s basketball team won its third-straight game and preserved an unbeaten 14-0 record at home this year after defeating the Northern Kentucky Norse, giving the Bears an overall record of 21-6.
The team set a program single-game record with 16 3-pointers in the 89-67 victory against Northern Kentucky, who lost its seventh game in a row and fell to 11-17.
The previous single-game record for 3s was done against USC Upstate during the 2008-09 season where Mercer booked 15 made 3-pointers.
“Doing so well means a lot because all of the hard work we have put into it throughout postseason last year, over the summer, the preseason and even during the season is paying off,” said senior Anthony White.
Several personal records were also set in Sunday’s game. Senior guard Bud Thomas scored his 1,000th career point. Thomas reached the milestone at the 2:09 mark of the first half after hitting a 3-pointer on the wing. His triple was just one of 11 made by the Bears in the first half of the game.
Senior Langston Hall hit five 3s in the first period on his way to tying a personal single-game scoring record with 25 points. Along with his 25 points, Hall had eight assists and four rebounds while only surrendering one turnover on the court.
White got in on the action, nailing two 3-point shots while booking 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior Jakob Gollon, Kevin Canevari and sophomore Ike Nwamu also made 3s on Sunday.
Overall, Mercer shot 16-of-27 from beyond the arc while registering a 58.8 percent (30-of-51) field goal percentage. The effort marked the 11th time this season that the Orange and Black have shot 50 percent or better from the field.
Fan of Mercer’s basketball team Tyler Howard is thrilled about the outcome of the season thus far. “I am so thrilled the boys have been performing so well. You can tell that they’ve put a lot of work in during practice and off the court, and it really seems to be paying off,” Howard said.
Mercer also recorded wins earlier this month against Kennesaw State University and Lipscomb, only suffering a loss against USC Upstate on Feb. 2.
Georgia’s two Atlantic Sun men’s basketball teams faced off in a showdown on Feb. 7, where Mercer pulled out a 75-68 win over Kennesaw State.
Four Mercer players reached double figures in the game against KSU. Hall led the score with his 20-point performance. Thomas added 16 points in the win while Monty Brown and Darious Moten added 12 and 10.
Daniel Coursey netted nine points along with 14 rebounds and five blocks. Hall recorded four assists, four steals and a rebound while Brown scored 12 points.
Mercer maintained its position atop the Atlantic Sun standings, while Kennesaw State’s losing streak ran to eight.
“As a team, we all know what we want to accomplish, which is to win the conference, win the conference tournament and go to the NCAA tournament,” White said. “The only way we can do that is by taking the rest of the season one game at a time and continuously getting better.”
Mercer will continue their play one Feb. 21 where they will hit the road to take on rival Florida Gulf Coast.
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