Box Score
MACON, Ga. - It was the worst of times. It was the best of times.
That is about the most succinct way to describe the tale of two halves endured by the Mercer University men’s basketball team in its 83-69 come-from-behind victory over USC Upstate on Monday evening at the University Center.
The win improved the Bears’ overall record to 12-12 and 8-6 in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings. The upset-minded Spartans fell to 4-19 and 4-10 in league play.
The pre-game ritual of filling in the official scorebook – normally a mundane task – might have been a foreshadowing of the first half “gremlins” that got into the Bears’ game. For the second time this season, reserve
Chris Smith was inadvertently marked as a starter (MU also has
Jeff Smith, who usually starts) and who had to take the floor in lieu of regular
Brian Mills.
The fact that Mercer was able to eventually win the game allowed head coach
Bob Hoffman to enjoy a little levity about it afterwards. “We are 1-1 with Chris Smith starting,” joked Hoffman.
But the nightmarish results of that first half for the Bears were nothing to laugh at. Upstate led wire-to-wire in the opening segment. USCU kept its field goal percentage above 50 percent the bulk of the time (eventually ending the half at 55.2 percent), while Mercer scratched its way up to nearly 38 percent after finding itself in the mid-teens in the early going for its shot attempts.
The Spartans were equally as efficient from long range, hitting eight-of-16 (50 percent) and a perfect seven-for-seven from the free throw line.
USCU took a 47-35 lead into the locker room after leading by as much as 19 points on a four-point play by Ryan LeGates (14 points). LeGates canned a three-pointer and, after being fouled by MU’s
David O’Shaughnessey, also connected on the charity toss to complete the
quadfecta and make it 37-18 in favor of the visitors.
Upstate still led by 19 with 1:50 remaining in the first half, 47-28, after a pair of Chalmers Rogers (9 points) free throws. But that would be the end of the Spartans’ scoring in the opening period…and the beginning of a Mercer comeback.
In the closing seconds of the first half,
James Florence and Jeff Smith each made good on a pair of free throws. Then Smith’s three-pointer with five tics left until intermission got the Bears’ back into the Spartans’ rearview mirror, down by just 12 points.
Upstate was as cold to open the second half as it was hot in the first. But barometric pressure had nothing to do with the Spartans’ temperature change as much as the pressure of the Mercer team’s aggressive offense and swarming defense coming out of halftime.
Mercer built upon its first-half headway and carried it throughout the final half. The Bears took the lead for the first time – and what would be for the duration – with 13:07 left to play on an
E.J. Kusnyer (6 points) three-bomb that made it 54-51, meaning Mercer had out-scored the Spartans 26-4 over an 8:47 span going back to that 1:50 mark of the first period.
And MU kept the pressure on. With 11:23 left to play in the game, Upstate was shooting 1-of-11 from the field – 9.1 percent - and had added just four points to its halftime score, while the Bears began their charge.
With 4:50 remaining Mercer had amassed a double digit advantage, 72-62, on another long-distance shot by Jeff Smith. USCU got no closer than six points the rest of the way, as Mercer completed the most improbable of comebacks. When all the dust had settled, the Bears out-scored the Spartans 48-22 in the second half.
Jeff Smith finished with a game-leading 22 points. The Huntsville, Ala., native hit 5-of-9 from the field (4-6 from three-point range) and was 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Smith’s home-state teammate,
Brandon Moore (from Birmingham, Ala.) added 16 points off the MU bench.
“The Alabama boys were cooking tonight,” declared Hoffman.
The Bears in double figures included Florence’s 15 points, to go along with his season-high seven rebounds. The Mercer senior also had a game-leading six assists and five steals.
Daniel Emerson notched his sixth-straight double-double game with 12 points and a game-topping 15 rebounds.
The 6’8” Emerson - the nation’s fourth-leading rebounder - had his work cut out for him, going up against the Spartans’ big German import at center, 7’3” Nick Schneiders. Emerson and company limited Schneiders, from Rietberg, Germany to nine points and six boards.
Mills rounded out the quintet of double-digit scorers by adding 10 points in what was technically his first time coming off the bench this season after the scorebook snafu.
“I told the team that this may be the best win since I’ve been here in terms of getting it done,” said Hoffman of his team’s not giving up. “I told them at halftime we were going have to play better and that we could still win this game, but we had to do a better job of attacking the basket.
“Many teams would have packed it in and called it a day (after that first half). But that’s not the character of these guys. We have guys who were just determined; we’ve got people who believe in each other.
“This was a team win!”
Mercer kept itself in contention for the top spot in the topsy-turvy A-Sun standings. MU finds itself just one game back in the loss column, as all five teams above it have five losses. The Bears still have games remaining against all five of those teams, as well, beginning this weekend.
The Bears next embark on a two-game road trip to Campbell University on Friday (Feb. 12) and then on to East Tennessee State University on Sunday (Feb.14).