February 26, 2011

Bears Clip Lipscomb, 68-67, in Regular Season Finale

MACON, Ga. – Mercer University's men's basketball team set the stage with some flair for next week's Atlantic Sun Conference basketball championship tournament being hosted on MU's home floor March 2-5, thanks to its 68-67 win over Lipscomb University at the University Center on Saturday. The win gave the Bears a mark of 14-17, 11-9 in the A-Sun, entering the event.

Lipscomb and Mercer were already locked in at the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds, respectively, for next week's tourney and both squads knew they would be playing each other again in Thursday's (March 3) first round at 9 p.m.

But one would never have known that – at least standings wise – Saturday's encounter was not going to matter.  In fact, the two teams played like each wanted to send a message. MU had the extra incentive of it being "Senior Day" for its team.

In the end, that may have been the Bears' edge. Two of the team's four seniors – Jeff Smith and Brandon Moore – who were key cogs in the MU scheme, were reduced to watching the game on crutches after season-ending knee injuries suffered a few weeks back.

"Our seniors wanted to win so bad," an emotional MU head coach Bob Hoffman recounted. "I just left a locker room where two guys who weren't playing…are crying because they are happy for their teammates. That doesn't happen very many places."

Neither team was able to secure a double-digit lead at any point in the game. The Bisons led by as much as eight in the first half and the Bears managed a six-point cushion in the second half. There were six ties and 10 lead changes.

Jake Gollon's three-point basket with 22 seconds left in the game proved to be the difference, putting MU up 68-64. LU's Josh Slater (23 points) hit a free throw and a layup in the waning seconds to make it 68-67 with 14 seconds left.

On the inbounds, Lipscomb was forced to foul Mercer's Mark Hall, one of the seniors honored. But the Los Angeles, Calif., native missed both free throws and Slater drove the length of the court for a final desperation jumper that bounced on the rim twice before careening off as the final horn sounded.

Senior forward Brian Mills ad another stellar game with a team-high 20 points, hitting seven-of-16 from the floor. It was Mills' 25^th double figure game of the year and his 10^th game with 20 or more points this season.

Mills also pulled down five rebounds.

Freshman Bud Thomas added 10 points as the only other Bear to hit double digits. Thomas booked three assists and a pair of steals.

Freshman point guard Langston Hall had seven points, and matched his season-high in assists with seven (for the third time this year). Junior transfer Justin Cecil led all Mercer rebounders with six boards.

Gollon finished the night with nine points in the winning effort, while Mark Hall added eight.