January 30, 2011

Bears Conclude Three-Game Road Swing at East Tennessee State

 

Pre-Game Notes

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Mercer University’s men’s basketball team will be going for its third-consecutive win – and a fourth-straight road victory – when the team faces off versus the Atlantic Sun Conference’s second-place squad, East Tennessee State University, on Monday (Jan. 31) evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. as the second half of a women’s/men’s doubleheader.

 

The Bears (8-14, 5-6 A-Sun) will have formidable task against the Buccaneers (15-8, 10-2 A-Sun), who have won 11 of their last 12 contests.

 

MU will be buoyed by the fact that it has won two in a row in tough road venues (at Kennesaw State and at USC Upstate). Mercer will be trying to win three in a row for the first time this season and four consecutive road games for the first time since the 2002-03 team won six straight at the opponent’s venue.

 

The Bears are hoping to build on the momentum of Saturday’s 65-53 win at Upstate, where four players hit for double-digits. Senior forward Brandon Moore led the assault with his team-leading fifth double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

 

Brian Mills added 15 points for his 17^th double-figure scoring game of the 2010-11 campaign. Freshman Bud Thomas had a career-high 13 points, while fellow frosh Langston Hall chipped in 10 (all in the second half).

 

Mills averages 14.6 points per game on the year and is shooting 49.8 percent from the floor. Moore checks in at 12.3 points per game and leads the Bears in boards at 6.8 rebounds per game.

 

SCOUTING ETSU:

ETSU has three players averaging in double figures, led by Mike Smith’s 16.7 p.p.g.  Smith shoots nearly 46 percent from the field and is second on the team in rebounds at 7.2 caroms per game.

 

Micah Williams is at 14.0 p.p.g., followed by Isiah Brown’s10.3 p.p.g. Brown tops a strong rebounding game for the Buccaneers with 7.6 r.p.g.

 

As a team, ETSU grabs 36.1 rebounds per game collectively. The Bucs also shot above 46 percent from the floor as a team. Adam Sollazzo’s 58.8 percent from the floor heads the ETSU regulars.

 

ETSU is coming off of a 93-62 dismantling of Kennesaw State on Saturday. Smith had 27 points and Williams 22 to lead a quartet of Bucs’ double-digit scorers in the game. Brown had a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards, while Sollazzo booked 15 points.

 

The Buccaneers hit better than 62 percent (38-61) from the field versus Kenensaw.

 

GAME NOTES:

*The last time a Bears team won three-consecutive road games was in the 2008-09 season when they topped Kennesaw State before winning two games at home, and then defeating Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson away. MU won three successive away games in 2005-06 (Savannah State, Jacksonville, North Florida).

*The Buccaneers lead the overall series by a 10-2 margin. Earlier this season in Macon, ETSU scored a last second win, 62-61, thanks to an Adam Sollazzo basket in the waning seconds of the game.

 

*The Bears had just six turnovers at Upstate on Saturday, for their lowest total this season. MU has had back-to-back single-digit turnovers in two straight games after making just eight miscues versus Kennesaw State last Tuesday.