Bears hoping Ross Cummings’ ‘Mamba Mentality’ can lead to SoCon tournament success

With time winding down in the second half, the Mercer Bears were tied up with Chattanooga. Then junior guard Ross Cummings did what he has done since he arrived in Macon: hit shots.

Cummings pulled up for the 3-point shot on back-to-back possessions and knocked them both down. The crowd inside Hawkins Arena erupted as Cummings sealed the victory for the Bears on Feb. 23 and notching himself a new career high in points with 37. “The Mamba” had reached his peak.

“He has been special,” head coach Bob Hoffman said. “He has really gotten stronger...continued to get more mentally tough.”

Growing up Cummings would work on his game with his twin brother, Gabe. The training they did together helped push him to become a better player.

“It definitely benefited me, constantly coming home (and) playing someone one-on-one in the driveway,” he said. “Just always having someone to work out with, someone to push me.”

Cummings graduated from Creekside High School where he was the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,873 career points. His play in high school caught the attention of Hoffman and his staff.

“You could tell that he had the ability to make plays,” Hoffman said. “He was always the shooter that he is now but he has continued to grow into an amazing shooter.”

For Cummings, Mercer’s dedication to him really stood out when it came time to make a college decision.

“I know coach (Hoffman) came to see me practice a couple days in a row and then he offered me,” Cummings said. “This was my only official visit, I took to Mercer and I fell in love with it.”

His decision paid off as Cummings was named to the All-Southern Conference second team this week. Just another accomplishment to add to the list for the Dickson, Tennessee, native that includes leading his team in three pointers and being in the top five in the conference in both scoring and 3-point percentage.

Yet the turning point for Cummings wasn’t a highlight at all. During a game against UNCG in his junior season he passed up an open shot. It drew some frustration from his coach.

“He turned down a shot and I took him out,” Hoffman said. “I told him I was going to take him out every time he turned down a shot for the rest of the year.”

Cummings checked back in the game. He didn’t pass up anymore shots. He finished the game with 23 points, 7-10 from the field and knocked down four 3-pointers.

Cummings said he felt like that moment showed him the coaches were confident in his scoring ability.

“Obviously if I am going to get taken out for not shooting it then the next time I got it I was definitely shooting it,” he said. “Especially with him just openly saying that he wants me to shoot the ball.”

It was also the night that the Mamba nickname was introduced to the world after Will Tharp, assistant director of Media Relations, tweeted out “White Mamba” in reference to Cummings which was later shortened to just “Mamba.”

“It was a thing that Will would call me in practice,” Cummings said. “It is cool though. It is neat to have people walk up and call me that like on campus.”

The nickname is similar to Kobe Bryant’s “Black Mamba” moniker. Cummings said that he tries to have the “Mamba Mentality” when playing the game.

“I wouldn’t say my game is like Kobe’s but definitely just having that ‘Mamba Mentality’ in a game,” he said. “Doing whatever it takes to win and having a mentality of ‘I am going to beat the guy in front of me’ and just having confidence.”

Now Cummings is trying to lead the underdog group of Bears into the conference tournament with the hopes of making the NCAA tournament. They first will need to get past number 3 seed Furman at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” he said. “Just leave it all on the court.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 12:26 PM.