Six seniors lead the way for Mercer basketball team this season

Jordan Strawberry, Stephon Jelks and Demetre Rivers have played a lot of games for the Mercer men’s basketball program as they enter their fourth and final season.

Desmond Ringer is entering his third season with the program, while Ria’n Holland and Rashad Lewis joined the Bears before last season.

Those seniors form the core of this year’s team, which opens its season Nov. 12 against Toccoa Falls.

“What I sense and what I feel right now is their togetherness and how they’re really focusing on doing stuff for each other,” said Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman, who is entering his 10th season with the program. “And if they continue that mindset, over the years — I’ve been doing this awhile — and over the years, that has been a great recipe for success. Definitely, if you care more about others than yourself, usually the accolades come alongside it.

“But you can do more than you could ever do alone, as we all know. I think these guys have definitely learned that.”

Strawberry has played 99 games in his career. He started 30 games last year and averaged 12.2 points per game, while leading the Bears with 132 assists.

Jelks has played in 97 games, and he led the Bears with 6.7 rebounds per game last year while averaging 7.4 points per game. Rivers has played in 86 games, and he averaged 11.2 points per game last year.

“We had a lot of battles last year, even the years before, me, (Rivers) and (Jelks) being here all four years for each other,” Strawberry said. “So I think it’s going to bring us closer together and help us win games.”

Holland started 31 games last year, and he led the Bears in points per game (17.2), steals (32), free throws (102), 3-pointers (77) and minutes played (975). Lewis was second on the team last year in assists (70) and steals (23).

Ringer averaged 7.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last year.

“It’s going to be a bittersweet year, but I think this is a special group of guys,” Jelks said. “We all played with each other last year and got to feel out all the new transfers, and I feel like this year will be special.”

The Bears finished 15-17 last year, their first losing season since the 2010-11 season. Hoffman enters the season with 489 career wins, and 179 of those have come at Mercer.

“We’ve pretty much got the same team coming back. Everybody’s been working on their game real hard day in and day out.,” Rivers said. “The chemistry has been growing each and every day, so we’re looking forward to a good year.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Six seniors lead the way for Mercer basketball team this season."