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(01/25/12 9:50pm)
The Mercer men’s basketball team would deny the Owls of Kennesaw State University their first conference win in dramatic fashion in the University Center on a not-so-unlucky Friday the 13th. The Bears came away with the victory, 81-51, while shooting 62 percent from the field, 65 percent from long range and 100 percent from the charity stripe. It was raining threes throughout the game, as the orange and black went 13-for-20 from outside the arc.
Sophomore Langston Hall broke out of a recent slump in grand fashion, going 5 for 8 from the floor, 5 for 6 from three, 2 for 2 from the foul line, while adding seven rebounds and seven assists. Sophomore Daniel Coursey added 14 points, three steals, one block and one rebound. His most crowd-pleasing plays, however, was a pair of monster dunks, one in each half. Redshirt sophomore Jake Gollon was perfect on the night, adding 11 points while going 4 for 4 from the field, 2 for 2 from three-point distance, and 1 for 1 from the charity stripe. “The rivalry between us has been building for a few years,” said Gollon. “We were super pumped to play and I think the home fans really helped out with momentum. Glad we got the win,” he added.
The Bears would claim sole possession atop the Atlantic Sun Conference standings a little over a week later after beating the University of North Florida on Jan. 21. Despite countless questionable calls, the orange and black came away with a 69-58 victory over the Ospreys, which pushed them to first place after ETSU and Belmont lost earlier in the day.
Coursey led the way for the bears, adding 13 points in 15 minutes due to some early foul trouble. Coursey also added four blocks and five rebounds. Gollon notched 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and a steal on the night. Junior college transfer Travis Smith provided a spark off of the bench, contributing 12 points in 15 minutes. Smith also had three rebounds. “It’s just unbelievable, they compete and they find ways to get it done,” head coach Bob Hoffman told mercerbears.com. “There are a lot of games left, but we have a lot of guys who can make plays and we are continuing to play hard,” he added.
The victory over UNF gives Mercer a 14-7 record overall, with a 6-2 conference record, which is the best start of any team under Coach Hoffman and the best start for Mercer since the 2004-05 campaign. “We are still an undefeated team at home during conference play,” said sophomore guard Bud Thomas. “UNF is a good team with a lot of good players and to defend our home court and move into first place is important,” he added.
There is no rest for the Bears, however, as they play against Jacksonville University only two days later. The game against Jacksonville will cap off a three-game home stretch. Hoffman’s team will then travel to Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast Atlantic before returning to the UC for games against USC Upstate, who just beat Belmont and ETSU on Feb. 4 and Feb. 6 respectively.
(01/25/12 9:45pm)
As the championship part of Mercer’s golf schedule quickly approaches, the Bears have several goals that are still set clearly in their sights. During the fall semester schedule, new Head Coach Steve Bradley and new Assistant Coach Jacob Davidson were still trying to feel out their new team while dealing with injuries and other distractions.
Despite attempting to work out all of the kinks, the Bears did not finish outside of 10th place in any round of their three fall tournaments. Their best finish was during the second round of The Brickyard Collegiate, hosted in Macon, in which Bradley’s team finished the day in fourth place, ahead of such well-known schools as the University of Georgia, Virginia Tech, Ole Miss and Oklahoma.
With everyone healthy and eligible to play, however, the Bears are playing harder and better than ever, working towards their goal of reaching the post-season. That is something Mercer has never accomplished. To do so, Bradley’s team will have to notch a record above 0.500 throughout the season, which only consists of seven events plus the Atlantic Sun Championship. The Bears also have to finish ranked in the top 70 nationally if they want to make history with their first post-season trip, all while playing against a very talented Atlantic Sun field, containing number five University of North Florida, number 35 Kennesaw State University and number 62 Campbell University (as of Nov. 27, 2011, courtesy of golfweek.com).
Unfortunately for the orange and black, only one event this semester can even be considered a ‘home’ match–the Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters Golf Course in Eatonton, Ga. on March 24-25. The Bears will co-host the event with the Owls of KSU. The rest of the season will see the team on the road in Florida, Alabama and North Carolina.
The Bears will look to ride the momentum from a sixth place finish at The Invitational at The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C., a tournament in which Mercer University finished ahead of the University of Notre Dame, the University of Kansas and conference rival USC Upstate, as they open up the season.
Redshirt sophomore Mike Hirthler anticipates success for Mercer, both this season, and in long term. “We are a young team, but with great senior leadership from Josh Cone,” said Hirthler. “We have a tough schedule, but you could see from all of the effort that the guys have put in during the off-season, both in the gym and on the course, that we are hungry to come into tournaments as underdogs and do some damage.”
Luckily for the Bears, however, the first tournament is in Jacksonville at TPC Sawgrass, a course that Coach Bradley considers one of the best in the nation. Bradley’s bunch tees off the spring schedule on Monday, Jan. 31.
(12/08/11 12:33am)
Mercer’s women’s basketball team got their first road win of the season on Nov. 25, defeating the High Point Lady Panthers 75-67. Sophomore Briana Williams put on a clinic as she scored 33 points while contributing two rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block. Freshman guard Alicia Williams also added 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. The Lady Bears shot 44.4 percent from long range, converting four of nine attempts.
After the victory against High Point, Mercer opened up conference play in Nashville, TN, against the Lipscomb Lady Bison on Thursday, Dec. 1. The Lady Bison defeated the Lady Bears 80-70. Mercer’s offense was lead by Freshman Precious Bridges. Bridges contributed 18 points, three rebounds and two assists off of the bench. Briana Williams led the Bears’ starters with 14 points, one rebound, two steals and one block. Junior Ry’Van Buchanan also contributed a double-double, with 11 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Tied 35-35 at half-time, Mercer out rebounded Lipscomb and had more second chance points than the Lady Bison. Additionally, the Lady Bears had 12 fewer turnovers. Lipscomb, however, shot 50 percent to Mercer’s 33.3 and outscored them 45-35 in the second half to come away with the victory.
Like the men’s team, the Lady Bears continued their conference play on Saturday against Belmont. Belmont made it to the semi-finals of the 2011 Atlantic Sun tournament before losing to Stetson by two points. Stetson would go on to defeat Jacksonville in the finals. At half-time Belmont led Mercer by one point, despite Mercer shooting 42 percent from the field and 33 percent from three-point distance. In the second half, however, the Lady Bears would outscore the Lady Bruins 36-32 to claim the 64-61 win. Bridges would lead Mercer in scoring for a second straight game, though this time it was as a starter. Bridges would finish with 20 points, all of which came in the second half. Buchanan would add 14 points of her own, while Sophomore Jasmine Blackmore added 13 points off of the bench. Buchanan and Blackmore also contributed six rebounds each. Mercerbears.com caught up with Coach Gardner, and she had this to say: “At halftime we made an adjustment because we saw a scenario where we thought we could get Precious a mismatch. She made great decisions getting to the rim and drawing fouls.”
Coach Gardner was also proud of the way her team rebounded from the loss at Lipscomb, saying, “on Thursday at Lipscomb we played so poorly…it was a long Friday…it was so important that we were able to turn it around. We made strides today, now we’ve got to quit taking steps back.” Splitting the opening games of conference play bring the Lady Bears’ record to 3-6, 1-1 in conference play.
(12/08/11 12:20am)
The Mercer men’s basketball team opened up its conference schedule against the Lipscomb University Bison on Thursday, Dec. 1, in Nashville, TN. The Bears went 2-1 last year against the Bison, with their only loss coming on Dec. 4, 2010, in Nashville. The Bears would go on to take the final two meetings between the schools. Mercer defeated the Bison during the last game of the regular season, and defeated them again five days later in the opening round of the 2011 Atlantic Sun tournament.
On Thursday, the Bears continued their recent success against Lipscomb with a 79-72 win. The offensive front was paced by senior Justin Cecil. Cecil finished the night with 22 points, seven rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block. Redshirt sophomore Jakob Gollon also made his presence known by contributing 18 points, one assist and one steal. The defensive effort was fantastic, as the Bears combined for 13 steals and 36 rebounds.
Overall, the Bears shot 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from long range and 80 percent from the free-throw line. “Winning a conference game on the road is always tough to do,” said sophomore Bud Thomas. “We couldn’t have asked for a better way for the first conference game to end up,” Thomas added.
The Bears continued their Music City road trip on Saturday, Dec. 3, against the 2011 Atlantic Sun champions, the Belmont Bruins. Belmont beat Mercer in the semi-finals of the 2011 Atlantic Sun Tournament. The Bruins beat the Bears 80-72 before routing the University of North Florida Ospreys in the finals. The rematch on Saturday was just as good of a game, with the Bruins coming out on top 82-78. Down 11 at the half, the Bears would claw back and draw within three with under two minutes left. The offense was led by Langston Hall. Hall, a sophomore out of Chamblee High School, finished the game with 23 points, four rebounds, four assists and one steal. Gollon had another great game, adding 17 points of his own, as well as eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Daniel ‘Moustache’ Coursey had a great game as well, contributing 18 points to the Bears’ offensive effort. Coursey also had four blocks against both the Bruins and the Bison.
“It was a tough four point loss, but I’m proud of the way we fought back. Just got to keep working and grinding,” said Hall after the loss. The Bears finished their road trip 1-1 and their record is now 5-2, 1-1 in conference play.
Before hosting the Progressive College Basketball Experience (CBE) Classic sub-regional, the Bears travelled to Greenville, SC, to play the Furman University Paladins on Nov. 17. The Bears came away with a 66-46 victory. The Bears’ starters combined for 54 of the Bears’ 66 points and the effort was fairly balanced: Bud Thomas had 16 pts; Cecil and Coursey contributed 11 points each, while Gollon and Hall contributed 10 and six respectively. “It was just a really great ‘team’ win. I liked how we played tonight; I liked our defensive intensity,” said Head Coach Bob Hoffman on mercerbears.com. The Bears’ next home game is Saturday, Dec. 10 against Chattanooga.