Mercer bounces back from A-Sun loss with CIT win

Both Mercer and Tennessee State entered the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com tournament with similar obstacles to overcome.

The Bears and Tigers both suffered emotional losses in their conference tournaments -- Mercer was upset in the semifinals by Florida Gulf Coast and Tennessee State lost by two points to Murray State in the Ohio Valley Conference championship game -- and they both came off extended breaks while many of college basketball’s other conferences doled out bids to the NCAA tournament.

Faced with those issues, both teams endured slow offensive starts Tuesday at the University Center. Mercer’s ability to overcome its early shooting woes ensured the Bears’ season will continue with the next round of the CIT following a 68-60 win. The Bears (23-11) earned the first non-conference postseason victory in program history.

The Bears shot 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from the floor in the first half and 30 percent from the free-throw line. The Tigers shot even worse, missing 23 of their 30 shots from the field in the first half. There were four stretches of two minutes of scoreless basket in the first half. Tennessee State led 21-19 at the half.

“I knew it was going to be hard for both teams, because both are coming off emotional things ... and Tennessee State even harder than us because they were a basket away from being in the (NCAA) tournament,” Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. “We looked like we hadn’t played in awhile. We looked like we were wondering what was going on.”

The momentum changed fairly early in the second half, with Justin Cecil making a 3-pointer and a deep two-point shot from the corner to jumpstart the Bears. He followed with another mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer sandwiched in between a Daniel Coursey basket for 10 of the first 12 points of the second half for Mercer.

“I kept shooting, and it felt good, so I just kept letting it fly,” Cecil said.

Cecil’s offensive burst gave the Bears a five-point lead, which was their biggest lead of the game at that point.

Langston Hall gave the Bears a second spurt later in the half with a pair of 3-pointers that gave Mercer a 3-point lead. On the next three scoring possessions, Hall found Coursey, who drew two fouls and finished with a dunk to give the Bears a seven-point lead with five minutes to go.

Mercer shot 59 percent from the floor in the second and made half of its 10 3-point attempts.

The one place Mercer never struggled was the foul line. The Bears used their proficiency at the foul line to put the game away.

Coursey made all eight of his free-throw attempts, and the Bears made 20-of-24 foul shots.

“When we came out flat; we were a little bit rusty, but we weren’t giving in,” Jake Gollon said. We weren’t ready for this season to be done.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2012 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Mercer bounces back from A-Sun loss with CIT win."