November 27, 2010

Bears Fall to Host William & Mary, 57-52, at Legends Classic

WILIAMSBURG, Va. – The Mercer men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to host William and Mary in its second game of the Legends Classic at the Kaplan Arena. The setback dropped the Bears to 2-4 on the year, while the Tribe improved to 2-3 with their second-consecutive win.

 

The Tribe led at the intermission, 24-17, as the Bears played into the hands of William and Mary’s slow-down style, which averages just 53.7 points per game. MU hit just six-of-21 shots from the field in the first half and had no offensive rebounds.

 

In the opening period, the Tribe had 12 points in the paint. Conversely, the Bears managed just four points inside. William and Mary’s bench also outscored Mercer, 9-0, in the first 20 minutes.

 

While the second half was still more befitting the Tribe’s style, Mercer began to chip away. Brian Mills got an offensive rebound and put-back and got fouled on the play. After Mills’ converted the charity toss, the Bears had overtaken W&M, 25-24.

 

Back-to-back three pointers by Jeff Smith – the second coming with 10:05 left in the game – extended MU’s lead to four points, 33-29, its biggest advantage of the second stanza.

 

However, a 15-2 run by the Tribe nullified the Bears’ comeback and put William and Mary up by nine, 44-35, with 4:03 left to play.

 

Despite holding a two-possession lead for most of the waning minutes, the Tribe still had to endure late charges by Mercer. The most promising came with 32 seconds left.  Senior Mark Hall canned a three-pointer from the right side to cut W&M’s lead to a precarious 52-49.

 

On the inbound pass, Hall stole the ball and quickly passed to teammate Justin Cecil standing behind the three-point arc. Cecil’s game-tying attempt missed and the Tribe was able to keep the Bears at bay the rest of the way.  

 

Smith led all scorers with 23 points on an eight-for-15 night shooting, including dialing up six-of-nine from long range. Smith shared game-high assist honors – with teammate Langston Hall – with four “helps”.

 

Senior Brian Mills was the only other MU player in double-digits with 13 points. Mills also topped Mercer with six rebounds.

 

The Tribe out-rebounded the Bears by a 37-31 margin for the game.

 

The good news for Mercer was that they made 11 three-point baskets. But the bad news was that the team launched 30 attempts from long distance and made just eight baskets inside the arc. MU also shot just five free throws, making three.

 

William and Mary was seven-of-18 from long range and 16-for-42 overall from the field for the game. The Tribe held a decided advantage from the free throw stripe, nailing 18-of-25.

 

“Our guys kept attacking the basket and we couldn’t get anything to go,” said MU head coach Bob Hoffman. “We went hard at (the basket) the whole time.

 

“We did some good things, but there are probably some things we should have done differently.”

 

Mercer will complete the three-day Legends Classic on Sunday versus former Atlantic Sun Conference member Gardner-Webb University. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.

 

All Mercer men's basketball games can be heard live on the sister FM stations of Peach 96.5 & 102.5 (WPCH and WZCH ), which will serve as the flagship stations for all broadcasts this season. Behind the microphone once again this season will be Rick Cameron, "Voice of the Bears", in his fifth year calling the play-by-play for Mercer basketball.