Mercer holds on at Kennesaw State

A big night inside and outside led Mercer to an 80-76 win Wednesday over Kennesaw State in a battle of former A-Sun men’s basketball rivals.

The Bears were 14-of-21 on 3-point shots and outrebounded the Owls 32-20 to improve to 6-7 with Southern Conference play on the horizon.

The Owls fell to 4-10.

Stephon Jelks and Demetre Rivers led Mercer with 19 points each while Jordan Strawberry chipped in 14. Jelks and Strawberry were each perfect on four 3-point tries.

Jelks, Desmond Ringer and Cory Gilby each had five rebounds for the Bears in a team effort on the glass. Strawberry had seven assists.

Aubrey Williams had 16 points and Nick Masterson 14 for the Owls, while Kendrick Ray added 13. Williams also had half of Kennesaw State's rebounds.

Mercer led 33-31 at halftime, and opened that to an 11-point margin with 5:57 left in the game, its second 11-point lead of the final 20 minutes.

The Owls battled back and cut it to 76-75 with 1:31 left on Tyler Hooker's 3-pointer.

Kilby countered with a 3-pointer only for the Owls to get back within three with 42 seconds left. They missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds, Kilby was fouled and made one of two free throws.

Mercer visits Wofford at 1 p.m. on Saturday and then Furman at 7 p.m. on Monday. The Bears welcome VMI at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.　

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Mercer holds on at Kennesaw State."