January 24, 2011

Bears Travel North on I-75 to Face Kennesaw State Tuesday

KENNESAW, Ga. – Tuesday night's men's basketball game at Kennesaw State will not just be the end of the first round of Atlantic Sun Conference games, but a perfect chance for Mercer's team to jump-start its push in the second round of league games as well as for the upcoming A-Sun championship tournament in March.

The Bears (6-14, 3-6 A-Sun) and the Owls (5-14, 3-6 A-Sun) are in a deadlock in the A-Sun standings tied for eighth place. With just eight teams qualifying for the A-Sun's post-season tourney, if the season ended after Tuesday evening either MU or Kennesaw would be left out. For the Bears – winners of two of their last three outings – the game affords the team the opportunity to not only leap-frog up the standings, but also rekindle the same type of second-half surge which Mercer rode all the way to the tournament title game in 2009-10.

While facing some different challenges this season, the loss of leading scorer Jeff Smith to a knee injury near the end of the overtime win over Jacksonville (then in third place in the A-Sun) last Thursday, the Bears still have several weapons in their arsenal to mount the assault on the Conference leaderboard.

Senior Brian Mills had 16 points in Saturday's loss to North Florida, leading a quartet of Bears in double-digit scoring. Mills also grabbed five rebounds and gave off two assists versus the Ospreys. On the year, Mills' points per game average sits at 14.3, while grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game and shooting a team-leading 49.5 percent from the floor.

Fellow senior Brandon Moore had 14 points against UNF and is averaging 11.6 p.p.g. for the season. Moore also tops the MU squad in rebounds, 6.5 per game, and is shooting a comfortable 48.9 percent from the field.

Senor Mark Hall, who entered last Saturday's game averaging 5.5 p.p.g., tallied 12 versus UNF. Sophomore reserve Chris Smith was a nice present for MU head coach Bob Hoffman as he doubled his previous career-high game by scoring 14 points as the Bears look to their bench to offset the loss of Jeff Smith.

SCOUTING KENNESAW STATE:

The Owls are led by the explosive tandem of Markeith Cummings and Spencer Dixon. Cummings, just a sophomore, averages 16.6 points and 4.4 r.p.g. and was both a second team All-A-Sun selection, as well as A-Sun All-Freshman Team member, last year.

Dixon checks in at 14.3 p.p.g. and 3.5 r.p.g for KSU. Dixon is also among the A-Sun's top distributors at 3.9 assists per game.

Three other Owls average more than or near eight points per game to provide support. The trio includes Kelvin McConnell (8.9 p.p.g.) , LaDaris Green (8.6 p.p.g.), and Aaron Anderson (7.9 p.p.g.). Green and Anderson pace the KSU rebounders at 7.2 and 7.8 caroms per game, respectively.

Kennesaw State is coming off of an 87-59 loss on Saturday to Jacksonville at home. In that game, Cummings' 20 points topped the Owls' efforts, while Green chipped in 13 points off of the KSU bench. JU out-rebounded the Owls by a wide margin, 45-29.

GAME NOTES:

*This is the 11^th meeting in the series between the schools and the series is all even at 5-5 entering the game. KSU knotted the series by sweeping both 2009-10 meetings against Mercer – 71-69 in Macon (1/27/10) and 66-63 in Kennesaw (2/4/10) – which occurred barely a week apart.

*The Bears will be embarking on a three-game road series with the game at Kennesaw (also including games at USC Upstate next Saturday and at East Tennessee the following Monday). Mercer is hoping that its road fortunes will vastly improve with just a 1-8 mark playing on the opposition's home floor thus far. This will be the Bears' third swing of three games (or more) in a row away from the University Center this season.

*Brian Mills has tallied in double figures in 15 of the Bears' 20 contests, including hitting for 10-plus points in 12 of his last 13 games.