February 23, 2011

Bears host A-Sun Leader Belmont on Thursday

 

MACON, Ga. – Mercer’s men’s basketball team will get a chance to play what could be a potential second-round opponent in next week’s Atlantic Sun Conference basketball championships, when it plays host to A-Sun regular season champion – and No. 1 seed – Belmont University on Thursday. Tip-off at the University Center is slated for 7:30 p.m.

The Bears (13-16, 10-8 A-Sun) will be looking to return to their winning ways, having had a five-game win streak snapped last Sunday at Jacksonville University, 74-68. MU has also won nine of its last 12 outings.

 

Belmont (25-4, 17-1 A-Sun) locked up the A-Sun’s top-seed and is ranked No. 3 in the nation in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll. Currently, Mercer is the No. 5 seed and is looking at a potential first-round game versus Lipscomb University (which also happens to be the Bears’ regular season finale opponent this Saturday). The winner of that game would play the winner of the No. 1 (Belmont) vs. No. 8 seed game.

 

Mercer is led by senior Brian Mills’ 15.6 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. A 46-percent shooter from the field, Mills has 23 double-digit scoring games this season (but was held to six points at JU).

 

Freshman point guard Langston Hall tallied a career-high 22 points in the loss to the Dolphins. He went nine-of-12 from the field against JU (a career-high for field goals made) and was a stellar 60 percent (6-of-10) from beyond the arc.  He also matched his single-game high with seven assists at North Florida two days earlier. On the year, Hall is averaging 8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.

 

SCOUTING BELMONT:

The Bruins have been on fire of late, winning seven in a row and 16 of their last 17 games. The balanced Belmont team has, if anything, been the model of methodical this season.

 

BU’s top scorer is Ian Clark, who averages 12.6 points per game. Behind him are Mick Hedgepath and Scott Saunders, who check in at 10.2 and 10.0 p.p.g., respectively. The Bruins feature six others who average between 5.3 and 8.4 points per game.

 

Just for good measure, Belmont has six players on its roster hitting better than 50 percent from the field. It’s top two long distance threats – Clark and Jordan Campbell – have 61 and 64 treys, respectively. Clark hits 42 percent, and Campbell 47 percent, from beyond the arc.

 

The Bruins are coming off of an 81-49 dismantling of USC Upstate last Saturday. Clark’s 20 points led his team, while Kerron Johnson added 13 points as BU’s only other player in double figures.

 

GAME NOTES:

*Belmont rolled to a comfortable 89-67 win over Mercer back on December 2, but the Bears’ current lineup features just two starters – Brian Mills and Langston Hall – from that first meeting. Jeff Smith and Brandon Moore had season-ending knee injuries and Justin Cecil has been coming off the Bears’ bench.

 

*Langston Hall was the A-Sun’s “Newcomer of the Week” for the period of Feb. 14-21. In addition to his career-high 22-point effort, Hall averaged 11.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game in the Bears’ three contests (the team went 2-1).

 

*Brian Mills also had a good week, averaging 19.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.  He had the game-winning basket versus Kennesaw State on Feb. 14 and tallied a career-high 34 points at North Florida on Feb. 19.