January 31, 2011

Bears Win Streak Snapped at East Tennessee, 82-75

 

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Mercer University’s men’s basketball team had its two-game win streak hit a wall in an 82-75 loss at East Tennessee State University. The setback left the Bears at 8-15 overall and 5-7 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, snapping the team's two-game win streak.

 

The Buccaneers, the A-Sun’s second place team, improved to 16-8 on the year and 11-2 in league.

 

MU’s string of injury misfortune continued as senior forward Brandon Moore went down with a knee injury just three-and-one-half minutes into the game and was unable to return. Moore, who leads Mercer in rebounding and is the team’s second-leading scorer, had already scored four points when the injury occurred.

 

Moore will have an MRI on Tuesday morning to determine the extent of the injury.

 

Mercer was already playing its fourth game minus senior guard Jeff Smith, who was leading the squad in scoring when he went down with a knee injury two weeks ago.

 

The Bears got another outstanding performance from junior transfer Justin Cecil off the bench. Cecil had a team-leading and MU career-high 23 points, hitting 9-of-17 from the floor and 5-of-8 from three-point range.  The Lakeland, Fla., native also grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.

 

“I’m so happy for (Cecil) that he made those plays and hit those shots,” MU head coach Bob Hoffman said. “When you have a lot of guys it’s hard to get those minutes. We started him early and things didn’t go well, but he stayed the course and got through all that.”

 

As if the rash of injuries were not enough, MU found itself in foul trouble at ETSU with one player (Jake Gollon) fouling out and three others (Brian Mills, Bud Thomas and Cecil) finishing the game with four personals apiece.

 

Despite the adversity, the Bears actually held a one-point lead late in the opening period – 27-26 with 4:39 left – on a Mills free throw. ETSU would eventually take a 38-34 lead into the halftime locker room.

 

The Bucs would eventually lead by as many as 14 points with 2:30 left before closing out the win.

 

Joining Cecil in double figures was senior Mark Hall with 12 points, draining 3-of-5 treys.

 

Mills booked 10 points for his 18^th double-figure scoring game of the year. He also pulled down six rebounds and had two assists.

 

We were right there if we could have just hit a couple more shots,” Hoffman said.