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(09/13/17 4:07pm)
As I sat in the press box Saturday afternoon battling the setting sun in my eyes, I couldn’t help but think: “Oh, no, not again.”
This is my third season covering Mercer football. I’ve loved every minute of it. But Saturday felt like I was Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog’s Day.” I’ve lived through this before.
Mercer had Wofford, the No. 10 ranked team in the FCS and a conference foe, on the ropes midway through the fourth quarter. The Bears led 27-14 with little more than eight minutes remaining in the outing.
The momentum had shifted their way. The defense had looked good nearly all afternoon. This team was different—it had that “it factor” to win big conference games.
(09/01/17 11:52am)
Hello, World.
A three-man quarterback battle stole the headlines preseason for the Mercer Bears, and now the quarterback who won that competition is making sure we remember his name.
Redshirt freshman Kaelan Riley took his first collegiate snap Thursday and totaled five touchdowns in Mercer’s 48-7 rout of Jacksonville. The Bears controlled the game from the start.
Alex Lakes gave Mercer its first lead with an 18-yard run, which was followed by an 8-yard touchdown grab by Sam Walker to give the Bears a 14-0 lead after the first. Riley scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter, one with his feet and one through the air to Walker, giving Mercer a 27-0 lead at the half.
The rout continued into the third quarter. Riley connected with true freshman Edmond Graham on a 58-yard bomb, then scored another touchdown with his feet. C.J. Leggett tacked on the team’s final touchdown of the night at the end of the third quarter.
Jacksonville avoided the shutout by scoring early in the fourth quarter.
Mercer registered 397 yards on offense, 220 through the air and 177 on the ground. The Bears also finished the game 6-of-6 on red zone conversions.
Here are three big takeaways from Mercer’s victory:
(1) Bobby Lamb’s offense didn’t miss John Russ
Russ has been the only starting quarterback since the program was re-established; many questioned what the position would look like without him at the helm.
Riley did a pretty dang good job of silencing those doubters. The redshirt freshman finished the game 18-of-26 for 206 yards, three touchdowns and one interception; he also added 54 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
“Overall, he had a pretty superb game for his first college start,” said head coach Bobby Lamb. “I wanted to get him going and get him settled down with some short throws, and I thought he did a nice job of handling our offense.”
But it’s not just about the numbers. He looked poised and comfortable. He scrambled from the pocket when he needed. He made the throws, and he made them with accuracy.
He wasn’t perfect. Riley wasn’t on the same page with his receiver and missed an option route in the first half. He also floated a pass over the middle that was intercepted early in the second half.
But he was pretty dang good -- five total touchdowns good. And yes, Jacksonville isn’t exactly an FCS powerhouse. The Dolphins play in the Pioneer League, the same conference Mercer played in for its first season of football.
Either way, Riley did what he was supposed to do, and that’s very telling -- especially since he hasn’t played in over a year.
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Senior linebacker LeMarkus Bailey was all over the field Thursday. He broke in front of a screen pass and grabbed an interception that led to Mercer’s first touchdown. Later, he made a huge stop on the edge on fourth and short. He finished the game with 10 tackles and the interception.
Mercer’s student section filled the stands. Even once the game got out of hand and it began raining, many students remained at the game.
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“It took me a few snaps to get comfortable,” Riley said. “I wanted to get hit a couple times; it’s been so long. I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I did.”
(2) Tight end Sam Walker looks in store for a breakout season
Riley to Walker. Get used to it.
Walker entered his redshirt junior season with 49 receptions, 529 yards and five touchdowns during his career. Against Jacksonville, he finished with five receptions for 47 yards and two scores.
Mercer has plenty of weapons on offense this year, but it’s not a stretch to say Walker may be the most talented. He stands at 6-foot-4, 229 pounds and can be a nightmare in the red zone.
“[Walker] is the best mismatch we have,” Lamb said. “When you put him on linebackers and safeties, he can make plays … I look for him to have a big, big year for us.”
Riley said Walker is a big part of the team’s offense.
“[Walker] is a phenomenal player. He has some of the best hands I’ve ever seen,” Riley said. “He’s a big guy, big body [and] big target.”
(3) I love the no-huddle, shotgun offense
Specifically early in the game, we saw a fast-paced offense out of the Bears. Lamb had Riley in the shotgun for nearly the entire game, and the offense had little trouble moving the ball.
With Riley in the game -- his night ended midway through the fourth quarter -- the Bears scored on eight of their 12 offensive drives.
“We have a lot of weapons out there at wideout [and] running back,” Lamb said. “We’re trying our best to get them a lot of footballs. We spread the field pretty good tonight.”
Editor's note: this article originally said that Sam Walker had 2 career touchdowns prior to this game. It has been corrected as of 9:15 a.m. 9/1/2017 to show that Sam Walker actually had 5 career touchdowns before the game.
(08/25/17 2:28pm)
Furious pace—it’s something Derek Schroeder has experienced in his first few weeks at Mercer, but it’s appropriate considering that’s exactly what he plans to incorporate into his new team.
Mercer announced the hiring of Schroeder July 25 as the new indoor and beach volleyball coach. He will replace Damian Elder, who left for personal reasons, according to the program.
"This is a great day for Mercer volleyball and Mercer University as a whole," Mercer Athletics Director Jim Cole said. "Coach Schroeder is a proven winner with experience in the Southern Conference, and I cannot wait to see how he takes our indoor and beach volleyball programs to the next level as we aim for conference championships."
Only 11 days after the announcement of his hiring, Schroeder took the floor in Hawkins Arena for the team’s first preseason practice.
“It really has been like drinking from a firehose,” Schroeder said. “The transition has been hectic. It’s been 100 miles per hour.”
The ball may not be traveling quite that fast this fall, but Schroeder said the team is going to play a better style of volleyball—faster than the players have ever played.
“We’re going to be a little bit more aggressive—going to be more of an attacking team,” Schroeder said. “We’re not going to sit back and wait for teams to error us into wins. We’re going to aggressively go out and search for wins.”
Schroeder is the program’s all-time wins leader. He comes to Macon after coaching at Samford for the last eight years. During that span, the Bulldogs went 169-86 and won two Southern Conference championships.
“Samford took a chance on me,” Schroeder said. “I had no head coaching experience, but [the athletics director] saw something. He took a chance, and we rewarded the school with some championships.”
During his time at Samford, Schroeder said he learned that aggressive style of play can be very successful in the Southern Conference. Understanding that, as well as being familiar with some of Mercer’s players already, leads Schroeder to believe that style of play will work well for the Bears.
“Knowing [Morgan MacGilvary] and [Emily Krogman], those type of kids and playing against them, I knew that if I could get them a ball in a different tempo, if we could kind of flow into our offense—there’s a rhythm to our offense—if we could find that rhythm for those players, that they’ll have more success,” Schroeder said.
Samford provided several benefits for the volleyball team to be successful—such as the facilities and support—and Schroeder said Mercer has those same benefits. He said the two schools are very similar, and that the building blocks are in place at Mercer to build a championship team.
But his duties won’t be just indoors. Schroeder will also coach the beach program, which now enters its sixth year of competition. He will enter the position with no beach volleyball coaching experience, but he said he had a “very long and extensive playing career as a beach player out of college.”
“The training and the game management and all that sort of stuff is going to be no problem,” Schroeder said. “What I’m doing right now in the offseason is trying to get my head wrapped around scheduling and trying to get my head wrapped around practice schedules—what we’re doing on a weekly basis, [and] what we’re doing in the fall when we’re out of season.”
The transition may have been even faster than the pace Schroeder wants his team to play, but he said he has enjoyed getting out of the office and working with the team in live action.
“What’s been fun about it has been getting in the gym with the girls. They’ve been very responsive. They’re working hard,” Schroeder said. “It’s been nuts in the office, but the release—the fun stuff—has been in the gym.”
(08/18/17 10:00am)
Entering the summer of 2016, Tee Mitchell was coming off a 2015 season filled with accolades: He was a unanimous All-SoCon Second Team selection, he totaled 1,135 all-purpose yards, and he was an Academic All-American.
By the end of the summer, Mitchell was suspended from the team for one season for a violation of team rules.
“I doubted whether I wanted to play football,” Mitchell said. “I was upset. I didn’t know what to do. I was lost for a while.”
But he didn’t quit. Now, 20 pounds heavier, Mitchell returned to the team over the summer—something Head Coach Bobby Lamb said he’s extremely happy about.
“The guy’s got a lot of ability,” Lamb said. “He got up and spoke to the team the other night, and it was a really good speech. [He’s] a guy that I think wants to prove himself.”
Proving himself and regaining the coaches’ trust was something Mitchell said he had to do after his suspension. After questioning his future for several months, Mitchell declined a transfer offer from Iowa State and decided to re-devote himself to playing football as a Mercer Bear.
“Around November, I got my head back on straight, and I was like, ‘Hey, I have a football season coming up. I can either fall off by the wayside and not do anything, or I can try to make the most of this time while I’m away,’” Mitchell said.
He trained at Georgia Sports Performance in Atlanta with Earl Williams, who works with former professional athletes. Mitchell said they worked on speed and weight training.
“I really made it my mission to come back and make an impact,” Mitchell said. “I moved up to Atlanta and trained for about seven months—just wanted to come back the best I could. I had a lot of time to reflect by myself, and I really think I really found out all the things I could fix.”
He did so by spending time in the film room—a lot of time. Mitchell still had game film from Mercer, so he would watch tapes for four to six hours a day, then spend four or five hours training his body.
“He took advantage of that year away,” Offensive Coordinator Casey Vogt said. “We’re excited to get him back in the mix and get him going because he has some special skills. He can change direction and accelerate. Last time we had him, he was about 185 pounds. He’s 205 now.”
Lamb said Mitchell has “looked great” throughout the summer and “didn’t miss a beat.” The now-improved relationship with his coaches is a product of the communication they had during his suspension.
Throughout the process, Mitchell said he kept in contact with many of the close friends he had on the team. But there was a rough patch with the coaches, initially.
“I lost their trust. They kind of lost faith in me,” Mitchell said. “I had a chance to recalibrate and actually have renewed relationships with the coaching staff during that time away. They gained trust in me while I was gone. I believe I came closer with them during my suspension than I was when I was here.”
Because of a deep backfield now with Alex Lakes, Georgia Tech transfer C.J. Leggett and freshmen Tyray Devezin and Rashad Haynes, Mitchell’s role is still undecided within the offense. He said his goal is to be the starter.
Regardless of his role, he is back where he left off: Tee Mitchell, Mercer running back, No. 28. Fits to a “Tee.”
(04/25/17 7:01pm)
After throwing an interception, Andrew Sowerbrower became a defender. Chasing down the small flag fluttering on the side of his opponent’s waist, Sowerbrower took a stumble during his pursuit.
He broke his kneecap.
“I was like, ‘Are you OK?’” said Brittany Mueller, an intramural supervisor at the flag football game. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, I just can’t move.’ So the ambulance had to come.”
According to Mueller, Sowerbrower was rushed into surgery the next day for his injury. Severe injuries such as Sowerbrower’s are not common in intramurals, but they do occur.
Mueller, who is now the student director of marketing for intramurals, said they usually call the ambulance a maximum of three times a year. It’s protocol for supervisors if an injured player cannot move or is incoherent.
Michael Castaneda, the assistant director of Recreational Sports and Wellness at Mercer, said his staff will first make sure that someone goes with the injured player to the hospital.
“We first see if it’s a friend,” Castaneda said. “If they don’t have a friend or someone to go with them, our staff will go with them and then contact myself or Todd [Thomas] and let us know. And then we would go to whatever hospital they would be and stay there until someone they know is there to be there with them.”
Sophomore Maddie Derrick was forced to go to the hospital because of a concussion, but she didn’t go until the day after suffering her injury.
Playing women’s 5 vs. 5 basketball, Derrick was elbowed in the eye with three minutes remaining in the game. She called a timeout right away and finished the game before receiving treatment.
“I called a timeout pretty quickly, so it didn’t give the officials much time to do anything,” Derrick said. “If I had given it more time, they probably would have called some type of foul . . . the supervisors got me some ice as soon as the game was over and they took a report and everything.”
Derrick is an intramural referee herself and said they followed the protocol for her injury. She suffered a concussion her junior year of high school, so she knew what it felt like.
“The staff got me some ice, but by the time I got home I was dizzy, had a headache [and] I was nauseous,” Derrick said. “So I was really tired and went to sleep. My roommate, Natalie Barker, woke me every couple hours.”
Castaneda said all intramural supervisors are trained for CPR and first aid, but they will never go beyond their certification in trying to treat an injury.
“Concussions and stuff like that, they know our protocol to ask questions to [see if] they know where they are,” Castaneda said. “But most of the time — like I said, when it’s something more serious — we at least tell them that we believe they should go to the hospital. If it’s someone who’s very incoherent, then we’ll just make the call for them.”
Mueller said the first thing supervisors do is check to see if the player can be moved off the playing field; if they can, they move the player and stop the game. If the participant can’t move, all actions stops immediately.
After receiving treatment — such as ice or wrapping — the players fills out an injury report on the supervisor’s iPad.
“That way, if they need to get in contact with anybody, we call [Mercer Police], who calls the ambulance, and then the ambulance comes on,” Mueller said.
Mueller said she has never personally had to go to the hospital with a player. But she believes her time as an intramural supervisor will reap benefits.
“It’s good that I know how to handle that, especially going past this I’m CPR certified, and that’s good for two years, and I was actually certified again in August of this year, so that will last,” Mueller said. “I know what to do if that ever happens in the future.”
(04/06/17 12:00am)
It ended up being two years later than initially expected, but Darryl Wanton finally found himself on Mercer’s campus. And when he did, Wanton wasted no time joining the newly-formed club basketball team formed by junior Andre Daniels.
“I didn’t really know anything about club basketball. I didn’t know it was a thing. But I would be working out in the gym, and I would go downstairs and play with some guys,” Wanton said. “People were just telling me about it, saying, ‘Hey, the club basketball team is having tryouts. You should show up.’ I came and showed up, and I’ve loved it ever since.”
It’s not the first basketball team Wanton has played on in college. The junior transferred to Mercer this year after spending two years at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, where he played college basketball.
Albany College is located in Albany, New York, and plays in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. Initially, Wanton said he planned to attend Mercer after graduating high school, but once he received the opportunity to play at Albany College, he changed his plans.
“It was kind of just a last-minute decision,” Wanton said. “I had to pretty much sell myself to college coaches. [High school] coaches didn’t really help us out much with our recruitment, so I used to send email after email asking college coaches to come look at me play, watch my game tape.”
The coach at Albany College emailed Wanton back, and once Wanton liked the academic program, he decided to attend the school instead of Mercer. But after two years, Wanton said Mercer was closer to home — he grew up in Fayetteville, Georgia — and it would prepare him for pharmacy school.
Once he found out about the club team, it gave him the opportunity to still play competitive basketball while at Mercer. Daniels, the club’s president, started the club in the fall.
“We had the club my freshman year, and a lot of the guys on the team didn’t want to play this year because of the way it was run my freshman year,” Daniels said. “But I knew that a lot of guys wanted to play basketball and wanted to do something other than intramurals.”
The team has played in three tournaments at Valdosta State, Georgia Tech and Middle Tennessee State. The first tournament, which was at Valdosta State, was in the fall semester. Wanton said it took time for the team’s chemistry to come together.
“We hadn’t really gelled together as good as we could have, but by the end of the tournament, we came together,” Wanton said. “We put some very great efforts [together].”
Daniels said one of the reasons he started the team was to give people the opportunity to travel and play other opponents. Kutia Muhammad, a senior on the team, said that — along with the team camaraderie — was one of the big perks.
“Being on the club team is a great way to get experience building chemistry with other young men, while also getting to see nice campuses around the South,” Muhammad said.
(04/05/17 9:03pm)
One of these isn’t like the others: Zumba, Pilates, Yoga and last but not least, Krav Maga self defense. All four programs are classes offered by Mercer’s Fitness and Wellness program, but one takes a different spin on the concept.
Krav Maga is the official fighting tactic of the Israeli army. Sophomore Morgan Leslie is a certified trainer and brought the class to Mercer in the fall.
“It’s basically like street fighting,” Leslie said. “There’s no rules; it’s not a traditional martial art, because with Taekwondo and Karate, you can’t do groin shots or eye gouges, but that’s all fair game in Krav Maga.”
In Hebrew, krav maga means “contact-combat,” and the phrase “anything works” is a major teaching point. Leslie’s interest in Krav Maga originated from a school project.
For her senior project in high school, Leslie originally wanted to delve into something health care related. But after it was difficult to take pictures and videos because of privacy laws, she went a different route.
“I was like, ‘I’ve always wanted to kind of do a self-defense thing.’ So I kind of researched a bunch of different gyms in my area, and one told me about Krav Maga,” Leslie said. “So I ended up doing that, and the focus on my research paper was sexual assault on college campuses and points for women to empower themselves through self-defense.”
But Krav Maga is not only for females; Leslie said most classes have six or seven people, half of whom are male. One of her students, freshman James Smith, said the classes are fun and provide good, practical skills.
“It’s good physical conditioning, and it makes you a lot more effective and confident in defending yourself if, God forbid, something happens to you,” Smith said.
The freshman was a wrestler in high school and is part of the ROTC program at Mercer. He first heard about the class because of his mentor in ROTC, but he continued to attend even after he wasn’t mandated to do so anymore.
Smith said it has helped him be lighter on his feet.
“As a wrestler, you didn’t spend a whole lot of time on your feet; most of it was on the ground,” Smith said. “I didn’t have a lot of experience moving around, dodging, blocking, striking [and] following your opponent. From all the practice we’ve had, I’ve gotten a lot better at it, and I feel a lot more confident.”
Leslie said confidence is one of the greatest benefits of Krav Maga. While she wouldn’t have called herself timid before taking classes, she said it has certainly helped increase her confidence level.
“If you’re an all-around timid person in day-to-day life, I feel like those are the people that do come,” Leslie said. “I’ve definitely become more confident in myself when going places. I don’t feel nervous around people as much.”
Krav Maga may not be for everyone, Leslie said. In order to effectively learn the material, students need to have a certain level of aggression. She said some students are too timid, and she can tell they’re holding back because they’re afraid of potentially hurting someone.
“But you’re not learning anything that way,” Leslie said. “You have to have a degree of aggression even with somebody you’re not trying to hurt in order to learn the material.”
Since the class began in the fall, Leslie said no one has been seriously injured — broken bones — but some people have gotten cuts or scars on their knuckles or have been hit on the nose. The students use some protective equipment — such as hand target pads or mats — but the program does not have all of the equipment it needs yet.
Because of a lack of equipment, the class focuses more on technique training and doesn’t do a high level of sparring. Sessions are currently offered Mondays from 5-6 p.m. and Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
“I think it’s important for everyone to be aware of their surroundings and be confident when they’re going places — especially with how messed up the world is nowadays,” Leslie said.
(03/30/17 1:55pm)
At first, Danielle Faust just wanted to play volleyball in the backyard with her older sisters. Katie and Mary, now 28 and 24 years old, were practicing with their father when Danielle approached them.
At the time, she played basketball. But she wanted to be like her older sisters.
“I went over and said, ‘Can I join you guys?’ And my dad was like, ‘No, go play with your mom or something,’” Danielle said. “So that made me really mad, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I want to play volleyball, and I want to be really good at volleyball so I can play with [Katie and Mary] and have something in common with them.’”
So she pursued volleyball.
Danielle — now a sophomore at Mercer — began playing indoor in fifth grade, then adventured to grass doubles a year or two later. She didn’t experience beach doubles – which she now plays at Mercer – until the summer of her sophomore year in high school.
Living in Reading, Pennsylvania, Danielle had to travel more than two hours to play in beach tournaments. Grass doubles was more prevalent; she followed in her sisters’ footsteps and even played with them at times.
“I’m a really big family person, so whatever they did I kind of wanted to do,” Danielle said. “I really just wanted to be able to connect with them… So I went to all of their games. I watched them. My older sister ended up coaching my junior high team. It was just really big in my family, and I couldn’t go home without hearing about it or going to one of their games that weekend.”
Even though Katie was seven years older than Danielle, the two played together when Danielle was younger. As she grew older, Danielle would play more with Katie, who would eventually play Division-II volleyball at West Chester University.
Both are still her favorite doubles partners, even though playing with each one was a unique experience.
“Me and Mary were complete opposites,” Danielle said. “She’s a lot more bold than I am, and I’m more laid back, relaxed, shy, nervous and not as confident. So that worked well for a while until . . . when we would get angry with each other, she would take it out on me, and then I would sort of shut down.”
Playing with Katie was different.
“We’re the same exact person, so playing with her was always very relaxed and a learning experience,” Danielle said. “I never felt pressure.”
All three Faust sisters are still involved with volleyball; both Katie and Mary now coach while Danielle plays indoor and beach at Mercer. Danielle’s high school career was hampered by a knee injury during her junior year, a big year for recruiting from major schools.
She took matters into her own hands and researched schools herself.
“I wanted beach and indoor, and I want a school that — which stinks it’s really far away, but I had to come far away for it — but a school that’s small and kind of gives you that community feel, because I’m a big family/community person,” Danielle said. “So, Mercer was kind of the only fit.”
Her first semester included trials and tribulations. During one of the team’s preseason indoor tournaments, Danielle sprained her MCL. As she tried to come back, she said she would reinjure or favor the knee.
She played in nine of the team’s 29 games as a freshman.
“That was really difficult. There were definitely times where I was like, ‘What am I doing here if I’m not playing?’” Danielle said. “Because I didn’t declare my major yet, so it was really hard for me to find my place. But the team and [Coach Elder] were really supportive and still made me feel a part of the team and like I was doing something for them even though I couldn’t physically play.”
The tide turned during her freshman beach season. Danielle’s knee was cleared, and she was able to play the entire season. Playing with partner Claire Waliczek, Danielle finished with a 3-6 record.
According to Danielle, beach and indoor volleyball have a very different mindset.
“The biggest difference is just the atmosphere you get,” Danielle said. “In indoor, I get a lot more adrenaline because of the crowd. There’s five other players on the court with me, and the atmosphere is just a lot different, and I feel almost more pressure.
“But when I come out to beach or just playing doubles in general, it’s almost more at home for me,” Danielle said. “I love relying on other teammates, but I like relying on me and one other person to get the job done . . . You can kind of just play, and you don’t have to say things. It just happens. It can just happen naturally . . . and that relationship you can develop and how you can develop as two people, I think that’s really cool.”
Danielle said she prefers “doubles over sixes” rather than saying she enjoys beach more than indoor, because she has played more grass doubles than sand doubles. One of her goals over the next few years is to become more comfortable with her movement in the sand.
Healthy as a sophomore, Danielle played in 25 games during the indoor season and finished sixth on the team with 109 points and 102 kills. She said, ultimately, she would like to feel as comfortable indoors as she is on the beach — to never second-guess herself.
“I’ve always struggled with confidence, but it never really hit me until last year at indoor when I would step on a court, and I would just kind of think, ‘Wait, what am I doing? How do I do it?’” Danielle said. “I want to get back to being completely confident in myself, and I know I have struggled with that my whole life, so I really want to fix that.”
(03/24/17 3:16pm)
The giant was almost slain. Mercer entered the Southern Conference championship game’s fourth quarter leading by 10 points, staring a bid into the NCAA Tournament squarely in the eyes.
And then the giant woke up. Chattanooga outscored Mercer 23-11 in the fourth quarter to defeat Mercer 61-59 and earn the bid Mercer was seeking. The Bears trailed by two after Chattanooga’s Jasmine Joyner drained a free throw with three seconds remaining.
Linnea Rosendal had a chance for the win, but her 3-point attempt bounced out of the rim as the buzzer sounded — no NCAA tournament appearance for Mercer.
But that doesn’t spoil the season the Bears have registered so far. Mercer currently sits at 25-6 (12-2), a long way from the 2010-11 team that won only two games. And it’s not over yet.
KEY GAMES
Nov. 13: UGA (72-64 loss)
The Bears faced in-state Georgia in only the second game of the year. It was a good measuring point early in the year. It was one of three out-of-conference losses; the other two were to Florida State and Georgia Tech.
Jan. 14: Western Carolina (59-57 win)
This contest was the closest win for Mercer in conference all season. Rachel Selph sealed the victory for the Bears with a last-second layup, and it was a much-needed victory after the team suffered its first conference loss to Chattanooga only seven days before this matchup.
Feb. 25: Samford (76-68 win)
A gritty win on the road granted Mercer its second straight regular-season conference title and kept the Bears flawless in conference play outside of the two losses to Chattanooga.
March 5: Chattanooga (61-59 loss)
Undoubtedly the biggest game of the season, Mercer simply couldn’t close the door on the Mocs. After losing by 18 and 20 points in the first two contests, the Bears had a chance to win the game that mattered most. In the near-victory, KeKe Calloway scored a career-high 25 points and tied a single-game tournament record of seven made 3-pointers.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Junior Kahlia Lawrence won her second straight Southern Conference Player of the Year, averaging 18.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Her 18.3 points was good for second in the conference.
Fellow junior Sydni Means joined Lawrence on the All-Conference First Team, averaging 11.1 points, 6.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.
The season is not yet finished for the Bears, but their 25 wins is the most in a single season since 1979-80, when Mercer went 29-6.
Mercer hasn’t just been scraping by teams all season. The Bears own a +9.8 scoring margin over opponents and lost only three conference games (all to Chattanooga).
The Bears also held advantages over their opponents in nearly every other statistical category: a better shooting percentage (.406 versus .385), a +1.5 rebounding advantage, +2.0 assist advantage, 18.0 points off turnovers versus 8.5 for opponents and 9.4 steals per game versus 5.2 for other teams.
POSTSEASON
The Bears faced off against Alabama in the first round of the WNIT in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The teams met in 2014, a game that ended in a 46-39 for Mercer but Alabama would not let that happen again. The Crimson Tide knocked off the Bears 81-57 and then beat Little Rock 55-53 to advance to the Sweet 16. Mercer’s season ends with back to back losses in postseason play but that doesn't tarnish an overall successful season.
LOOKING AHEAD
The core remains intact for Mercer next season. The entire starting five returns as only forward Ciarra Edwards will be graduating. Lawrence, Means and Alex Williams will be entering their senior seasons while Calloway and Amanda Thompson will be juniors. It will be the third straight season in which the team that made a run last year will be together.
(03/21/17 5:57pm)
Mercer stormed out of the gates against ETSU, leading 20-7 only eight minutes into the outing. But the Bears couldn’t keep the pace up and ultimately exited the tournament early, ending their hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament.
After losing 73-66 to the Bucs in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament, the Bears finished the 2016-17 season 15-17 (9-9).
The kicker: Mercer men’s basketball lost eight games by three points or less this season.
KEY GAMES
Dec. 18: Auburn (76-74 loss)
The Bears had a chance to upset another Power Five opponent but fell short as the Tigers drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Jan. 19 UNCG (68-66 loss)
Early in conference play, Mercer had UNCG on the ropes on the road. But in what seemingly became a trend for the Bears, they couldn’t close the deal as Diante Baldwin made a 3-pointer to go ahead with five seconds.
Feb. 2 Furman (70-68 loss)
This particular loss may have been the toughest to swallow. After winning three straight conference contests, Mercer nearly defeated the top team in the conference at the time, but once again couldn’t close the deal.
The Paladins drained a jumper to go up by two with three seconds remaining to ice the game. Coach Bob Hoffman was visibly distraught after the game and during the press conference, showing just how difficult of a pill this one was to swallow.
Feb. 4 Wofford (65-62 loss)
The following game, Mercer had a chance to avenge the Furman loss. But it fell short again. The Bears lost on another last-second shot, this one a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining. The loss caused Mercer to end its home stretch with two straight losses.
Feb. 25 Chattanooga (64-54 win)/Feb. 27 Samford (88-79 win)
The Bears finished the regular season with two victories — one big one over a difficult Chattanooga team — to grab the much-desired six seed in the conference tournament. By finishing sixth, Mercer avoided the play-in round.
But finishing sixth may have ultimately been a bad draw for the Bears, as they faced eventual conference champion ETSU in the first round. Mercer struggled more against the Bucs than anyone else in conference during the regular season.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Ria’n Holland led the Bears with 17.2 points per game in his first season at Mercer. He will return next year for his senior year.
All of the starting five averaged at least 7.2 points per game.
Jordan Strawberry led the team with 4.3 assists per game while Stephon Jelks led the team in rebounding with 6.7 per contest.
The Bears looked good statistically; they had an advantage on their opponents in scoring (+2.6), field goal percentage (.444 versus .415), rebounding (+5.5) and assists (+0.1).
It’s the first time Mercer basketball has finished with a losing record since the 2010-11 season.
Holland earned All-Conference Second Team.
POSTSEASON?
Finishing the season under .500, Mercer won’t be going to one of the postseason college basketball tournaments. It will be the first time since 2010-11, breaking a five-year streak of postseason play.
LOOKING AHEAD
Barring a transfer, Mercer will only be losing forwards Andrew Fishler and J.J. N’Ganga. Fishler chipped in production off the bench, playing 8.9 minutes per game and adding in 2.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and a team-high 23 total blocks. Primarily, his 7-foot-1 length will be missed defensively.
N’Ganga, who transferred to Mercer this season, played 8.2 minutes per game and added 1.3 points and 1.7 rebounds. With N’Ganga and Fishler departing, redshirt freshman Mac Brydon will figure to make an impact down low next season.
The Bears return their entire starting five, as Holland, Strawberry, Jelks and Demetre Rivers will all be seniors; Desmond Ringer will be a redshirt senior. Sophomore Ethan Stair also figures to return to action next season after missing all of 2016-17 with injury. He played more than 24 minutes per game as a freshman and averaged 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds.
(02/28/17 11:18am)
During each segment of The Cluster’s “Inside the Den,” hosted on Facebook Live each week, the hosts ask the athlete a four pack of random questions called the “Formidable Four.” These questions are often the most thought-provoking and provide a way to become more familiar with the athletes on a personal level. Check out some of the wild responses from the podcast’s last three weeks.
Mercer men’s basketball’s Desmond Ringer
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If you could play on a team of five with four other players who have ever lived, who would they be?
“My high school starting five. We were killers, man. We were killers… We were kind of like our team right now at Mercer. We all were star players in high school — all had big offers, AAU-wise. We all just wanted to come together to win… We had so much chemistry. We would dunk on so many people.”
If I gave you $500,000 cash and said you could never play basketball (or be involved with basketball) ever again, would you take it?
“No. One million dollars? I might do that… Nah, it’s not enough.”
If your life was a movie, what would it be called?
“Good Times.”
If you had to live on a stranded island, and you can only bring three items (you can’t bring your phone), what would they be?
“I’m bringing a basketball, a picture of my grandmother and my Bible… [My grandmother] is very close to me. She died when I was in the sixth grade, and I miss her a lot, so I just keep her with me wherever I go.”
Mercer baseball’s Danny Edgeworth
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If you could build your dream infield, who would be the players that surrounded you at third base?
“I would want Andrelton Simmons to be my shortstop, because he’s obviously unbelievable. Brandon Crawford right now is my favorite player, and he’s a shortstop, too, but I’d move him over to second. I would take Miguel Cabrera as my first baseman. Either Clayton Kershaw or Noah Syndergaard would be my pitcher.”
If you could play catch with one person — dead or alive — who would it be?
“I would say my dad’s dad, because he was a big baseball fan, and my dad played baseball in college and kind of learned from him. But I’ve never met him before because he passed away before I was born. My dad always tells me, ‘He’d be so proud of you. He’d love to be here right now. He’d love to watch you play.’”
If your life was a movie, what would it be called?
“I think it’d probably be called ‘Dedge’ . . . That’s my nickname. Everybody from high school calls me that, and only my closest friends here do . . . I think it’d be about us going to Omaha. That’d be a cool story.”
If you were President Edgeworth for one day, what would your executive order be?
“Free Chick-fil-a. Executive order for free Chick-fil-a for everybody on Fridays. I think we could get a lot of people behind that.” #Edgeworth2020
Mercer women’s lacrosse’s Haleigh Wurzel
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If you could eat dinner with three other people (alive or dead), who would they be? And what would the meal be?
“Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes and gravy. And probably broccoli with a nice red wine — like a blend. [I would probably eat with] Odell Beckham Jr. is one. I’m a big Giants fan . . . Probably Chrissy Teigen. And probably, honestly, J.K. Rowling.”
If your life was a movie, what would it be called?
“I don’t know, but it would be a comedy — like a, ‘Oh, poor her’ comedy. ‘She falls all the time.’”
If you could only use one word to describe yourself, what would it be?
“Goofy. Pretty cool. Neat. Like a cool neat. Like, not really ‘cool,’ but ‘neat.’”
You were just given $10 million. What is the first thing you do with it?
“Put it in my bank account. Nah, I’m just playing. I would buy myself a car . . . Not like a really cool one. Probably like a bigger Nissan. My mom drives a Pathfinder, and I really like it.”
(02/21/17 1:13am)
He stepped up to the plate looking to give Mercer the lead. With the game tied 7-7 in the top of the eighth, Trey Truitt clutched his bat as he stared down Western Carolina pitcher Colton Davis.
“When you walk in and you step into that batter’s box, you have to come in with an approach that ‘I’m better than you,’” Truitt said. “‘You’re not going to beat me.’”
It was the first of a potential three-game series to determine the Southern Conference champion. But instead of scooting past Davis on the mound, Truitt experienced something he couldn’t dodge: a fastball to the back of the head.
Suffering a concussion, Truitt was forced to miss the remaining two games of the series: losses of 4-2 and 3-2.
“It was tough not being down there with my team. But I had full confidence in them,” Truitt said. “You had the No. 1 hitter in the nation out there on the field with those guys. They were highly capable of winning that game -- both of those games -- without me.”
Because of his concussion symptoms, the outfielder watched the final two games in a dark room in the press box. But he could only stay away from his team for so long.
“Towards the end of the game — the second game — I finally just said, ‘Whatever, man,’ put in some earplugs and went down and cheered the guys on,” Truitt said.
The losses to end the season left the Bears at 38-23 overall, fueled in part by Truitt’s performance from the plate: He was second on the team in batting average (.335), runs (64), hits (79) and home runs (17) and finished third on the team with 54 RBI.
Entering his junior year as an outfielder, Truitt returns as the leading hitter from 2016 after Golden Spikes Award winner and now-Seattle Mariner Kyle Lewis took his talents to the professional stage. The Bears will look to replace Lewis’s 20 home runs, 72 RBI and .395 batting average.
While Truitt said Lewis’s shoes are big to fill, he believes he’s capable of filling the void along with his teammates.
“It’s going to be an all-around team effort just like it always has,” Truitt said.
Truitt will not only be losing a teammate but also a mentor in Lewis. The Dothan, Alabama, product said Lewis was both a mentor and his best friend.
“That guy took me under his wing,” Truitt said. “He taught me how to play under control in certain situations — how to command the field and be a general . . . [He was] everything you could ask for in a leader.”
But before Lewis, Truitt had a mentor who greatly influenced his love for the game: his father, Taiwan Truitt. According to Trey, his father played both football and baseball at Troy University and was eventually drafted by the Atlanta Braves.
Truitt never needed a coach growing up.
“He never forced me to do it,” Truitt said. It was just something like, ‘Hey, man, if you ever want to go play, we’ll sign you up, Son. He just made the game great and made me develop a love for it.”
That love has led him to where he is today: a Preseason Third Team All-American heading into the 2017 season. It’s just another award on top of his being named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team in 2015 and the All-SoCon Second Team in 2016.
“Preseason honors can definitely come back to haunt you,” Truitt said. “You just have to look at it like it’s not even there and go out and grind so a Preseason All-American at the end of the year will be an All-American.”
Truitt will be donning the Mercer uniform in the Bears’ first game Feb. 17 for the first time since he was concussed.
But it won't be the first time he stepped to the plate since the accident. Truitt followed in Lewis’s footsteps and played in the Cape Cod League this summer.
Playing for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, Truitt accumulated a .208 average with nine RBI and seven doubles.
Stepping back up to the plate for the first time since his injury, Truitt said he just wanted to get his next hit and get back to business.
“When I stepped in the box up there at Cape Cod, I just needed a hit to just relax myself again and be normal Trey on the field,” he said.
The Bears will hope he can do just that this season. Mercer returns every pitcher from last season; Truitt said he believes pitching will be the key to the team’s success in 2017.
Truitt will try to do his part from the plate and give back to the program that has given so much to him both on and off the field.
“I was a very irresponsible kid. I had problems going to class. Getting up [and] waking up in the morning was tough for me,” Truitt said. “Coming in — they always have a joke about it — I couldn’t even do a push up at the end of a workout. I was so scrawny and small. They’ve reformed my game and how I approach life.”
(02/03/17 4:23am)
As Daniel Fowler glided down the court with the clock ticking under 10 seconds, he lifted from just outside the key and silenced Hawkins Arena as the ball swished through the net and slashed Mercer’s hopes.
The Bears (11-13, 5-6) dropped another close loss Thursday to Furman (15-8, 8-2) 70-68 after Fowler lifted the Paladins to their fifth-straight win.
Led by Ria’n Holland’s 14 points, the Bears took a 38-35 lead into the half; Mercer opened the game 4-of-17 from the field but went on to make nine of its next 13 shots to hold the three-point lead.
Mercer led 52-43 with more than 12 minutes remaining after holding Furman scoreless for five minutes, but the Paladins caught fire and shot 4-of-8 from the 3-point line the remainder of the game.
The Bears held a small lead until Furman took its first lead with more than two minutes remaining at 66-63; it was the first time Furman led since late in the first half.
After the Paladins missed two one-and-one opportunities leading 68-67 with less than a minute remaining, Jordan Strawberry went to the free-throw line with 11 seconds remaining.
Strawberry missed the first but made the second to tie the outing before Fowler’s jumper with 2.3 seconds remaining granted Furman a two-point lead. Holland received a look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer but couldn’t make it fall as the Bears went the final six minutes without a field goal.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Ria’n Holland: The Bears’ leading scorer continued his strong play Thursday, leading Mercer with 18 points and 2-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line.
Fowler: On top of nailing the game-winning shot, Fowler led the Paladins with 18 points on 3-of-4 shooting from the 3-point line and a team-high five rebounds.
Jordan Strawberry: The guard helped lead the Bears early in the second half and finished with 11 points. He was the only other Mercer player with double-digit points.
STATS THAT POP:
Lack of efficient shooting: Because of their struggles down the stretch, the Bears shot only 37.7 percent from the field. Furman dominated from the field in the second half (60 percent to Mercer’s 30.4 percent) as it finished 53.3 percent.
Controlling the key stats… but not the win column: The Bears controlled the rebounding (32 to 24), turnover (13 to 16) and free-throw battle (19-of-22 to 10-16) but could not grab the victory.
WHAT MATTERS:
Thursday night on the (down)town: Both teams shot over 40 percent from the 3-point line. The teams traded 3-point shots midway through the second half as Furman finished 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) and Mercer finished 9-of-22 (40.9 percent).
Streak halted for Bears: Mercer was riding a three-game win streak before the loss; with the win, Furman increases its winning streak to five games as it sits atop the SoCon.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
(1) Oh, so close. Again
Mercer is 3-7 in one-possession games. The loss to Furman marks the seventh loss this season by two points or less. At some point, the trend has to change, right?
(2) Holland and Strawberry creating
The dynamic frontcourt of Holland and Strawberry proved to be effective Thursday, especially late in the first half and early in the second half. The guards made something out of nothing on several offensive possessions, such as when Holland drained two 3-point shots in the face of a defender. Strong guards who can create bodes well for the Bears come postseason play.
(3) The momentum can still continue
Even though this is a devastating loss for the Bears at home, it doesn’t completely demolish their momentum. After winning three straight and playing SoCon-leading Furman to the wire, Mercer can still bounce back with a win Saturday against Wofford and keep itself in good position entering the conference tournament.
BEAR BITES:
Holland on the end of the game: “[Furman] hit big shots. We had some breakdowns defensively down the stretch. They executed well and hit big shots.”
Holland on moving on to next game (Wofford): “We have a quick turnaround. We’ll be back at practice [Friday], then we’ll see what Wofford has and try to execute against them.”
Holland on another close loss: We’ve been close all year long. About three times, down the stretch, we’ve closed some games by pushing ourselves ahead. We just have to keep seeing what we need to do down the stretch to close these games.
Hoffman on struggling over last six minutes: “We just didn’t make a shot. We were trying to run a bunch of different things. It was a really physical game. We finally got to the free-throw line at the end, but there was a lot of bumping and grinding going on. It became more and more physical as the second half went on.”
Hoffman on team: “I know how hard they’re playing. [There are] lots of people doubting these guys, and that’s the wrong thing to do because they’re amazing young men that are trying really hard to do the right thing together and get over the hump, and we just haven’t been able to do it yet.”
(01/29/17 12:43am)
It took more than 30 minutes for someone other than Ria’n Holland to make a 3-pointer, but when it did, it came like a flood. Mercer (10-12, 4-5) pulled past The Citadel (9-15, 2-8) 82-66 Saturday behind Jordan Strawberry’s 13-point second-half performance.
Strawberry made the Bears’ first 3-pointer from a player not named Holland with nine minutes remaining in the game. And then the onslaught ensued.
Demetre Rivers drained one from deep moments later, then Strawberry connected on two more within a three-minute stretch to put the Bulldogs away for good.
Neither team led by more than six points in the first half as both the The Citadel and Mercer struggled from the field -- 32 and 44 percent, respectively. Holland was the only player in double figures scoring -- 10 -- as the Bears led 33-30.
Mercer failed to pull away early in the second half; the Bulldogs trailed by only four points with more than 10 minutes remaining, but then the 3-point barrage began. The four total 3-pointers over a three-minute stretch gave Mercer a double-digit lead it would never relinquish.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Stephon Jelks: The junior forward was a force all over the court, flirting with a triple-double by grabbing a 14 rebounds, dishing out eight assists and scoring five points. The 14 rebounds were a season high for Jelks and three less than his career high of 17 against The Citadel last season.
Rivers: The dam was broken in the second half as Rivers scored 19 of his 23 total points, a team high in the game. He shot 8-of-9 from the free-throw line and 7-of-10 from the field.
Holland: The junior shot 3-of-7 from the 3-point line en route to 17 points. He also cashed in from the free-throw line, shooting 6-of-8.
Strawberry: The guard scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, fueled by his three 3-pointers that helped Mercer pull away.
STATS THAT POP:
Terrific triumvirate: Rivers, Holland and Strawberry combined for 55 of the Bears’ 82 points. Desmond Ringer and Ryan Johnson each chipped in six points.
Making shots fall: The Bears were efficient from the field, shooting less than 51 percent. Led by Jelks, Mercer assisted on 20 of its 27 made baskets. The Citadel took 14 more shots than the Bears but finished only 34 percent from the field.
WHAT MATTERED:
Hanging around from downtown: The Citadel shoots more than 37 3-point shots a game and makes more than 12 a game on the season. The Bears made only four less 3-point shots than the Bulldogs and matched The Citadel’s 3-point total of five in the second half.
Slowing down the pace: The Citadel scored only 66 points, the least it has scored in 10 SoCon games and the second-least it has scored all season. Before the outing, the Bulldogs led the nation in scoring at 94.5 points per game.
BEAR BITES:
Rivers on playing The Citadel’s style of play: “We had all week to prepare for it, and the coaches, they gave us good details to apply to the game.
Rivers on defensive performance: “The most important thing the [coaches] were telling us was to just close out hard to the shooters and take out their shot and then being the gap for each other… We want to take pride in our defense. We work on it 24/7.”
Strawberry on controlling the pace: “We don’t want to get up and down with them because that is their style of pace. We can play that way, but they’re more used to playing that way.”
Strawberry on Jelks’s performance: “He was just getting back to himself -- being confident, going to the boards, finding guys [and] hitting shots when he needed to hit shots. He’s a big boost for us. We need him to play like that all the time.”
Head coach Bob Hoffman on pulling away: “We just executed a little better… That stretch right there, [Strawberry] got back-to-back 3s, we got some layups and some easy shots and [Rivers] played like we need him to play. He was really special tonight.”
Hoffman on next few games in home stretch: “Every game is important to us because we have nine more opportunities to get better for [the] conference tournament, and you have to win three or four to go to the NCAA Tournament. Somebody’s going to get on a run, and it might as well be us.”
(01/14/17 10:59pm)
As Stephon Jelks laid in an uncontested shot as the buzzer sounded, it was the least excited he’d been all game. After an action-packed final minutes -- including back-to-back reviews on inbound plays -- Jelks scored Mercer’s 68th point of the game, knowing it was useless at that point.
The Bears fell 70-68 to Chattanooga Saturday in Hawkins Arena, dropping their record to 8-11 (2-4) on the season. Trailing by three points with under a minute remaining, Desmond Ringer nailed two free throws to cut Mercer’s deficit to 67-66.
On the ensuing inbound, Chattanooga turned the ball over -- until referees reviewed the call and determined a Mercer player was the last to touch it.
Again, the Mocs inbounded the ball and nearly turned it over, but officials deemed there was not circumstantial evidence that the Chattanooga player stepped out of bounds.
After a foul by Mercer, Tre’ McLean nailed two free throws to extend Chattanooga’s lead to 69-66 with 14 seconds remaining.
Ria’n Holland’s attempt to tie the game was blocked, giving the Mocs a chance to essentially win the game with a free throw by Rodney Chatman with eight seconds remaining.
Neither team gained more than a six-point advantage in the first half until Mercer led 38-30 with less than 30 seconds remaining. But that momentum and lead quickly evaporated.
Chattanooga’s Greg Pryor scored a contested shot in the paint with less than five seconds remaining. Then, after a Mercer timeout, Johnathan Burroughs-Cook stole the inbound pass and scored a layup, giving the Mocs four points and only a 38-34 deficit at the break.
Chattanooga capitalized on the momentum swinger, outscoring Mercer 24-11 in the first eleven minutes of the second half to lead 58-49. Mercer responded with a quick 7-0 run to trail 58-56, but the Bears would never regain the lead.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Holland: The Bears’ leading scorer didn’t disappoint Saturday, scoring a team-high 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Holland scored 15 points in the second half and, at one point, had 15 of Mercer’s 20 points in the second half.
Desmond Ringer: The junior was the only other Bear in double-digit scoring, finishing with 10 points. He also added seven rebounds and drained the pair of free throws that gave Mercer a chance to tie the game near the end of regulation.
Jaylen Stowe: The sophomore guard provided a spark off the bench, scoring a season-high seven points.
STATS THAT POP:
It’s called the charity stripe for a reason: Mercer shot a season-high 94 percent from the free-throw line (16-of-17), 18 percentage points higher than its season average of 76 percent.
Tale of two halves shooting: The Bears shot 49 percent from the field in the outing, but there was a large disparity between the first and second half. Mercer shot less than 59 percent (17-of-29) from the field in the first half; in the second half, it shot more than 36 percent (8-of-22). Holland was responsible for five of Mercer’s eight field goals in the second half.
Staying in for the night: After draining 14 3-pointers Wednesday against Samford, the Bears shot only 2-of-17 from downtown Saturday. It’s the lowest amount of 3-pointers made in a single game for Mercer all season. Chattanooga shot 8-of-23 from the 3-point line.
WHAT MATTERED:
Dam in the river: Demetre Rivers played only 20 minutes, the second-least amount of minutes he’s played in a game this season. Rivers picked up his second foul with 8:45 remaining in the first half. Entering the game, Rivers was second on the team in scoring with 12.0 per game.
Sparks off the bench: Led by Stowe, Mercer’s bench provided a spark with 20 points. Cory Kilby, Ryan Johnson, Rashad Lewis, Andrew Fishler and Stowe all played at least 10 minutes.
Losing the momentum: After Mercer gained its largest lead of the first half (38-30), Chattanooga scored four points in the final five seconds. The Mocs then started the second half on a 24-11 run to take its largest lead of the game, 58-49.
BEAR BITES:
Holland on the strong start: “Energy and effort. We rebounded the ball pretty well. We defended well. We were playing with a lot of energy early in the game to set the tone.”
Holland on gaining confidence from the loss: “It lets us know that we can play with anybody in this conference. We just have to find ways to finish games and get those wins.”
Head coach Bob Hoffman on loss: “We just needed to make one more play. Wednesday night, we make the plays and win by three. [Saturday], we lose by two, and you feel completely different, but you played the same, and they gave the same effort. And that’s the hard thing for this team. We’ve had so many of those games so far.”
Hoffman on takeaway from game: “We know we can compete with [Chattanooga]. We know we can compete with everyone in the league, but we we weren’t able to finish. You look at our record, and you don’t think we can because of what our record is, but it’s a long season. The season’s not over.”
Hoffman on momentum shift at end of first half: “That was all my fault… We had two guys fall down when he shot the layup, and I guess there was a wet spot that we didn’t realize, and Jordan [Strawberry] ran right through the wet spot and gave him [another] layup… If we don’t give those four up, we win the game. Every possession matters.”
Hoffman on 3-point shooting: “It’s kind of been either feast or famine, but we have to still keep taking them.”
(12/16/16 5:02pm)
When J.J. Nganga transferred to Mercer this season, he instantly became the second-tallest player on the team. At 6-foot-10, the former New Mexico Lobo joined a frontcourt manned by 7-foot-1 Andrew Fishler, 6-foot-6 Stephon Jelks and 6-foot-7 Cory Kilby.
The Bears also saw 6-foot-9 Desmond Ringer return to the lineup after Ringer missed the final 11 games in 2015-16 due to suspension. With a new rotation of Ringer, Jelks, Fishler, Kilby and Nganga, the Bears have a slight rebounding margin (1.8) over its opponents in the first six games.
Head coach Bob Hoffman said that combination of height and depth will be an advantage for the Bears come conference play.
“I think it’ll give us something nobody has,” he said. “I think our depth there will be a great advantage once we do get into conference play because [you can put] pressure on with those three guys the way the game is being called right now. If we can use fifteen fouls down there, that’s also a great benefit. Foul trouble won’t be as big of an issue.”
And if foul trouble won’t be as big of an issue, Hoffman said that bodes well for the team’s performance — specifically rebounding. In its first six games, the team has won the rebounding battle three times. Kilby missed three outings.
“The main thing that we hope when we play will happen is that it will help us in the rebounding edge,” Hoffman said. “That could give you extra offensive possessions, and I think as good as we’re going to shoot it, it will help us.”
Jelks said the height of Fishler and Nganga helps because teams tend to gameplan or focus more attention on them.
“We take advantage of it because other teams look at that and tries to focus on them more, like [Nganga] and [Fishler], they’re tall and strong and get really good rebounds,” he said. “It’s an advantage of ours in the SoCon. You don’t really see that much height other than [Chattanooga] or ETSU.”
Chattanooga is the only other team in the conference with two players who are 6-foot-10 or taller; ETSU boasts the second-tallest player in the conference behind Fishler: Peter Jurkin at 7-foot.
Hoffman, with more depth and height down low this season, said he believes the rotation will depend on foul trouble.
“A lot will depend on who we are playing, and sometimes we may not play any fives,” Hoffman said. “[Ringer] can guard the four better than the other two. There might be situations where we would play Ryan [Johnson] and Cory [Kilby] or [Jelks]. Or we might go small.”
Jelks, who was named to the preseason all-conference team, said the added depth “definitely motivates” him. But while it may push him, Jelks said he’s not worried about his individual statistics.
“Against Florida, I had five points and one rebound… I’m not the kind of player that thinks about getting mine,” Jelks said. “People are going to have their nights where I’m doing good and when I’m not doing good, but I’m more focused on whoever’s on the court getting the job done. That’s really what’s more important.”
(12/01/16 3:59am)
Nova Alam wanted to play competitive cricket. Growing up in Lilburn, Georgia, Alam played the sport casually with her family in the backyard. When her cousins came over, instead of grabbing a pigskin, they would grab a wooden bat, wickets and balls.
Thanksgiving? Cricket. Christmas? Cricket. Fourth of July? Cricket.
But she never played competitively.
So when Alam saw that Mercer had a men’s club cricket team, she asked if she could join.
"I was like, 'Hey, can girls play? I'm kind of interested,” Alam said. “And they said, 'No, this is a men's league.'"
So the sophomore took matters into her own hands. Along with her friend, sophomore Supreet Raina, Alam looked into creating a women’s cricket team at Mercer — the first women’s cricket team at a university in the United States, according to Petal Samuels of the GWCA (Georgia Women Cricket Association).
According to Raina, in order to become an official club, she and Alam had to find a league to play in and enough interest to field a full team. Check, and check.
But it wasn’t easy. Raina said it took months to simply find someone to play against.
“When we started thinking about this and wanting to do it, we were kind of like at a standstill, because we were like, 'Who do we even talk to?'” Raina said. “At least with the men's team, they have someone to talk to, some entity to contact. It really started out with just us stepping back and looking at it and going, 'This isn't fair. Where's the support for a women's team?'"
Raina eventually got in contact with the GWCA, an organization that fields the Atlanta Pearls women’s cricket team. According to the GWCA’s Facebook page, while it intends “[develop] cricketers to their fullest potential, while providing a platform to showcase their talents and skills.” It also suggests it’s using cricket to “transcend racial, economic, social and political barriers.”
Alam said creating the team was a chance to start something new ― something that would, like the GWCA suggested, promote diversity on Mercer’s campus.
"There aren't that many girls teams here and there,” Alam said. “This is just one step forward we can use to promote that."
And while Raina and Alam already have interest from about 30 girls ― 11 of whom have already filled out official forms ― they want to spread the word even more. The team plans to debut in fall 2017 in order to have a full semester for practices.
But since it will be the first women’s cricket team at a university, the team won’t be playing against other colleges. Mercer will be playing teams through the GWCA’s contacts.
“They know a lot of other women's teams actually all up and down the East coast. There's not a lot of teams, but there are teams we can play against,” Raina said. “They're basically a rag tag group of people who have gotten together... older women, almost like senior citizen women. They're women who are now just getting into cricket. They're women who have previously played for countries."
It will be the first time Alam or Raina will play cricket competitively. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t familiar with the game. Raina said her family is enthusiastic about the sport; her cousins even have their own team and play opponents in Gwinnett and around Atlanta.
Alam has had family members play professionally in Bangladesh. Utilizing her experiences, Alam simplified the game for those who aren’t familiar with it.
"It's almost kind of like a mixture between softball and golf,” Alam said. “The ball comes flying at you, and you hit it with a really big bat."
Given the nature of cricket, Alam said they’re ideally trying to attract girls who have played in similar sports, like tennis, softball and golf. But Raina said they’re looking for anyone who is willing or interested ― anyone who wants to try something new.
“They don't even need to have experience. If they don't even know what a cricket bat looks like, that's fine,” Raina said. “We're willing to teach them anything they need to know. We have support from other teams, other women who are ready to come in and help us learn. You don't need any experience. You don't need to be athletic. You don't need to have any qualifications or prerequisites. It's just if you have the desire to learn or the desire to try something new, then hit us up."
Those interested in joining the team can contact Alam and Raina through the team’s Facebook page, Mercer Women’s Cricket. Raina said she hopes, one day, girls will be able to earn scholarships and awards for playing on the team; it could also be an avenue for girls to gain recognition from bigger organizations.
But for now, Alam said the team is a chance to further diversify the university.
"I feel like this could be another addition to Mercer's goal of diversity, because this is a sport commonly found in many areas in Europe, Australia and many parts of South Asia,” Alam said. “It promotes a lot of diversity, and this is a good opportunity for all of us to get together."
(11/30/16 4:36am)
Jack Gibbs took a few tricks out of Stephen Curry’s book.
The junior guard from Davidson knocked down eight 3-pointers Tuesday en route to a season-high 33 points in the Wildcats’ 78-57 win over Mercer. Davidson as a team connected on 14 3-pointers, five more than the team’s average on the year.
It didn’t take Gibbs -- or Davidson -- long to get into rhythm.
The Wildcats nailed five 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game to take an early 21-9 lead. The Bears eventually stopped the bleeding, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 26-18 with eight minutes remaining in the first half.
But they would never get any closer than eight points. Gibbs gave Davidson a 41-27 lead at halftime after nailing a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer; the Wildcats honed that momentum early in the second half, scoring the first eight points to take a 22-point lead.
Davidson’s lead peaked at 66-39 -- a point in which Gibbs individually had only 10 less points than Mercer’s entire team -- before the Bears’ bench battled and cut the deficit to 21 by the final buzzer.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Gibbs: The Davidson guard led all scorers with 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting. In four games played this year, Gibbs has averaged 21.0 points for the Wildcats.
Peyton Aldridge: His performance is overshadowed by Gibbs’, but Aldridge chipped in 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting; he also added five rebounds and three assists for Davidson.
J.J. N'Ganga: Off the bench, the redshirt senior grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and tied a career-high with eight points in 20 minutes played.
Ryan Johnson: The redshirt sophomore was Mercer’s only scorer in double digits (10) and added in five rebounds. His 10 points tied a season high.
STATS THAT POP:
Did Steph go back to college?: Davidson utilized the 3-point shot early and often, scoring 15 of its first 21 points and 42 of its 78 by the 3-pointer. Former Davidson star and now-NBA champion Stephen Curry holds the record for most 3-pointers made in an NBA season.
Starters struggling: Mercer’s bench outscored the starting five. Led by N'Ganga and Johnson, the bench scored 30 points while the starters scored 27. Starters Desmond Ringer and Stephon Jelks played 12 and 16 minutes, respectively.
Bears offense goes into hibernation: Mercer’s 57 points was a season low. Ria’n Holland, the team’s leading scorer, finished with a season-low nine points while Jordan Strawberry tied his season low with four.
[pullquote speaker="Head coach Bob Hoffman" photo="" align="left" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Their guard is like one of the best point guards in America.[/pullquote]
WHAT MATTERED:
Purrty on offense: The Wildcats punched Mercer in the mouth early; their 21 points in the first five minutes were seven more points than Radford scored in the entire first half against Mercer. Davidson shot more than 45 percent from the field and nearly 39 percent from 3-point.
Coughing it up: The Bears finished the game with 18 turnovers, three less than the amount of field goals (21) the team scored. With five minutes remaining in the game, Davidson held a huge advantage in the turnover department -- 17 for Mercer, three for the Wildcats -- before four late turnovers for Davidson.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
(1) A taste of France
Forward J.J. N'Ganga had, by far, his best game of the season against Davidson. For the first time this season, N'Ganga played more minutes than fellow big man Andrew Fishler. N'Ganga’s performance was a weapon the Bears have not shown yet this year; if he can continue similar production -- or, at least, close to it -- then he would be an added wrinkle to the Bears’ improved height and depth in the frontcourt. The major question will be, “Can his knee hold up?” He sat out last year at New Mexico due to injury.
(2) Starters will rebound
I feel extremely confident in saying the bench will not outscore the starting five again this season. Call Tuesday an anomaly. Ringer and Jelks will return to their normal minutes while Holland will not continue to shoot 2-of-8 from the floor.
(3) How does Mercer respond?
The Bears travel up to George Mason Saturday to take on another A-10 opponent. A difficult venue, George Mason will test Mercer -- especially mentally. After suffering nearly its worst loss of the season -- at home, too -- Mercer will have a chance to rebound with a win against a quality opponent in a tough environment. The outing against the Patriots could be very telling of the makeup of this year’s team.
BEAR BITES:
N'Ganga on his performance: “Well, I had a day off. So it was help. I’ve been a little banged up. My health is the most influential factor of how I play.”
N'Ganga on what to learn from the loss: “From the get go, we need to get after people. We can’t just let people punch us in the face and try to wake up.”
Head coach Bob Hoffman on team’s 18 turnovers: “You’re not going to win, even playing maybe a lesser team than those guys, but for sure against a well-oiled machine like they are.”
Hoffman on lack of offense: “I think we just missed a few. To me, to beat that team, you had to be a second-attack team. We talked about it for three days, and we were settling for the first shot instead of driving them again and making a pass… If you’re going to beat them, you have to make them guard for a couple possessions and go at them twice.”
Hoffman on inability to come back from slow start: “It’s a higher-level team probably, a little bit. Their guard is like one of the best point guards in America. He showed it [Tuesday].”
Hoffman on moving on: “Well, you go to sleep, get some food and guys take [Wednesday] off and kind of re-group. We play a George Mason team we beat [at Hawkins Arena] last year. They’re really good. They’ll be well coached. It’ll be a hard game. We don’t really have any easy games left. Like we’ve said all along from the beginning, this was going to be the hardest schedule we’ve ever had since I’ve been here.”
(11/20/16 10:23pm)
The Bears chose to run their way to a win Sunday.
Trailing 63-55 to Georgia Southern with under eight minutes remaining in the game, Mercer (2-1, 0-0) finished the outing on a 25-4 run to defeat the Eagles (1-2, 0-0) 80-67 in the first game of the Savannah Invitational.
The game-defining spree was one of two major scoring runs the Bears utilized in the victory. After starting slow and trailing 17-5 in the first half, Mercer took a 23-17 lead after a six-minute 18-0 run.
Georgia Southern would respond and hold a 39-34 lead at halftime -- and it would never relinquish it until the Bears’ run to finish the game. The game-ending spree began at the 7:26 mark. After seven quick Mercer points, junior guard Jordan Strawberry gave Mercer its first lead, 64-63, since the first half when he finished a layup in traffic.
The Eagles went scoreless for four and a half minutes before Ike Smith threw down a highlight-reel one-handed dunk; it ended a 15-0 Mercer run.
Georgia Southern would never threaten after Strawberry nailed two flagrant-foul free throws with a minute remaining to give the Bears a double-digit lead.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Ria’n Holland: The transfer guard led the team in scoring for the second straight game, chipping in 18 on 7-of-13 shooting.
Stephon Jelks: Jelks nearly registered his first double-double of the season by scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds. He also led the team with five assists.
Jordan Strawberry: The junior scored 10 points in the second half and 13 total. He was a major spark during the run that gave Mercer a lead it never relinquished.
Tookie Brown: Georgia Southern’s sophomore guard torched the Bears from 3, shooting 5-of-9 from behind the arc en route to 15 points.
Ike Smith: Smith led the Eagles with 19 points, including 12 in the second half. He shot a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line and registered a highlight-reel one-handed dunk late in the second half.
STATS THAT POP:
An aerial triumvirate: The Eagles were led by three players who scored 50 of their 67 points: Brown, Smith and B.J. Gladden (16 points).
Hitting the town: Georgia Southern went downtown early and often, making three 3-point shots in the first six minutes. The 3-point shot was the difference in the game before Mercer’s final charge. The Eagles finished the game 10-of-31 from 3-point range.
Points down low a key: While Georgia Southern pulled ahead because of the 3-point shot, Mercer dominated down low. The Bears outscored the Eagles 36-20 in the paint.
Starters dominate the stat sheet: Only six players registered a point for Mercer, five of whom started the game. All five of the starters finished with double-digit points, and the starting five was responsible for 73 of the team’s 80 points.
WHAT MATTERED:
Donning the khakis: Sophomores Ethan Stair and Cory Kilby did not dress for the game due to undisclosed injuries. Stair, who averaged 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds as a freshman, has missed the first three games. Sunday was Kilby’s first missed game of the season; he averaged 2.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in the first two games.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
(1) A little spark can turn into a wildfire
Basketball is known as a game of runs, but Mercer took that to the next level Sunday with 25-4 and 18-0 scoring sprees. The Bears started flat, but after putting together some quick scores, Mercer was re-energized and looked like a new team.
(2) The depth is fine
While the statistics may suggest Mercer is top heavy, the team’s depth is actually much improved from last year -- especially the depth toward the end of last season. Ten players played at least eight minutes, all of whom are capable of contributing in some way.
The team’s depth is strong now and will improve in a big way once Stair and Kilby return from injury.
(3) Don’t underestimate this win
Georgia Southern is a formidable opponent; the Eagles nearly beat N.C. State on the road Nov. 11 but fell short 81-79. The guard tandem of Smith and Brown combined for 38.5 points per game entering the contest against Mercer.
Beating a team like Georgia Southern early in the year with a largely-new team is a huge confidence booster for the Bears. Don’t forget: There are eight new players on the team this season. Gaining the chemistry necessary to be a great team will take time -- weeks, maybe months -- so to earn an impressive win at this juncture bodes well for the team’s prospects come March.
BEAR BITES:
Strawberry on the end of the game: “We came out kind of flat at the beginning of the game. Second half, we came out a little bit flat in the beginning. Then we figured it out those last eight minutes and came out with a lot of energy.”
Strawberry on how important the win is: “I think it’s huge because we have a lot of new faces, and we were down early, and we were down a lot. For us to battle back like that against a really good team... I think that’s a big confidence booster for our whole team.”
Holland on leading the team in scoring early in the year: “It opens up the gaps for my teammates to drive the ball and stuff if I’m a threat for shooting... I would like to continue scoring like that.”
Hoffman on Holland: “He’s special… I thought he was going to make a couple more that he missed, because I believe every time he shoots it, it’s going in.”
Hoffman on energy Strawberry’s plays brought to team: “We need him to be an energy guy. He’s kind of laid back a little bit -- from California, I guess… The steals on press, he just read the play, and I thought it changed the momentum of the game.”
Hoffman on limiting Georgia Southern’s 3-point shooting: “We finally started trapping the ball screens a little bit more, especially with Brown. Then we tried to get it out of his hands in the full court, where someone else had to make a play, because he’s so dynamic in every aspect of the game.”
(11/20/16 1:39am)
Macon has been the location for film productions in the past. Add “Mercer versus Furman” to the list.
Senior wide receiver Jordan Marshall caught a 33-yard game-winning touchdown Saturday with 0:31 remaining to lift Mercer (6-5, 4-4) over Furman (3-8, 3-5) 27-24 in the team’s final outing of the season.
But this win was extra special for Marshall, a Day One -- the players who have been with the team since the first practice after re-establishment -- along with quarterback John Russ.
“It seems like something that would happen in a movie,” Marshall said.
It was Marshall’s first catch of the game. It was Marshall’s first reception over 15 yards this year. It was Marshall’s first touchdown of the season.
The Hollywood-esque scene occurred after Furman scored a 36-yard touchdown on fourth down with 1:25 remaining to lead 24-20.
It was the second time the Paladins took the lead in the game. The Bears held the lead 10-9 at halftime thanks to a 43-yard strike to Chandler Curtis only over a minute and a half into the game.
A Russ interception, which was returned 31 yards to Mercer’s 4-yard line, led to a 4-yard touchdown pass that gave Furman a 17-10 lead with 12:25 in the third after a 2-point conversion. Russ would later make amends at the end of the third quarter, tying the game on a 1-yard rush.
Mercer regained the lead as Cole Fisher reeled in a 32-yard field goal with only 2:35 remaining, but would later lose it when Furman scored on fourth and two from Mercer’s 36.
The Bears drew final blood, but the final 30 seconds weren’t without drama. After an unsportsmanlike penalty moved the kickoff 15 yards back, Furman drove to Mercer’s 31-yard line with 10 seconds remaining.
But Furman quarterback Reese Hannon launched a pass toward the end zone that was picked off by Mercer’s Kam Lott to secure the win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QImGPmn7Ls&feature=youtu.be
STARS OF THE GAME:
Russ: The senior filled the stat sheet in multiple ways during his final outing as a Mercer Bear. Russ passed for 191 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions but also added 123 yards and a touchdown on the ground. The Buford native finishes his career as a four-year starter, passing for 8,559 yards, 78 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. He also rushed for 2,340 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Curtis: The junior was quiet after his 43-yard score on the first possession, but he still led the team in receiving with four catches for 67 yards and the score. It was the sixth straight game Curtis caught a receiving touchdown.
Hannon: Furman’s quarterback accounted for all three of the Paladins’ scores, as he passed for 251 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 47 yards and a score on the ground.
Thomas Gordon: The Paladins’ freshman receiver torched the Bears with seven receptions for 100 yards in the first half; Mercer limited him in the second half, as he finished the game with eight receptions for 112 yards.
STATS THAT POP:
Running for no gain: Furman ran for only 68 yards in the loss, averaging 2.7 yards per carry. Before the game, the Paladins ranked sixth in the Southern Conference with an average of 139.3 yards per game and 4.2 yards per carry.
John “Rush” leads Bears’ ground game: Mercer ran for more yards (193) than it passed for (191) in the game, led by Russ -- a quarterback. It’s the third straight outing in which Russ led the team in rushing.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
(1) Bears send Day Ones out in fashion
Saturday was the final game for the Day Ones, the group of players still on the team who joined the team on the first day of re-establishment. Head coach Bobby Lamb has raved about how much of an impact the Day Ones have made on the program.
(2) Oh sweet victory
Mercer has experienced more than its fair share of close, stinging losses. See: Wofford at home in 2015, The Citadel in 2015 and 2016, VMI at home in 2015 and Western Carolina on the road in 2015.
After Furman’s late touchdown, it looked as if the script may be rewriting itself. But the senior-to-senior connection converted a play when it was most needed and flipped the script.
(3) What does the quarterback position look like next season?
Russ has been the only quarterback Mercer has seen since the football program was re-established. His impact on the program was capped by his balanced performance Saturday, leading the offense through both the air and ground.
Redshirt freshman Kaelan Riley and redshirt sophomore Tanner Brumby are the two remaining quarterbacks currently on the roster. Whoever wins the starting position will have large shoes to fill; it will be the biggest question going into 2017.
BEAR BITES:
Marshall on the game-winning touchdown: “I knew when they went up 24-20, something in my gut just told me that we were still going to win that game. I didn’t know that I’d be the one that would score, but I just knew we were going to win that game, and it was just a blessing that I came up with that in my last game here.”
Russ on Marshall’s touchdown: “I can’t even put into words how excited and how happy I am for him. He’s been my roommate ever since I came here. You’ll never see a guy work as hard as he will at practice, [the] weight room, everything... It’s a memory.”
Lamb on the relationship between Russ and Marshall: “They’re like best friends. They’re hip to hip.”
Lamb on senior class: “It’s a special class… They’ve stayed the course. We signed 104 and 31 in year two. It was 135 players who could have stayed the course, and 30 stayed the course. That shows you how special these young men are. They didn’t waver. We put them through offseason training, summer training. They did everything we asked them to do to be a part of Mercer football and to build Mercer football from day one. They did that.”