Mercer Bears see their season end in SoCon tournament loss to Furman

The Mercer Bears’ season comes to an end following a 85-74 loss to number 3 seed Furman. The game was similar to how the Bears’ season has gone as whole: they have been good enough to compete with the best the Southern Conference has to offer, but unable to get the win in the key moments.

“We are always going to compete and I don’t know anything else. I am a fighter,” Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. “My guys worked every possession trying to get the best out of the game that they possible could. We just fell a little bit short.”

The teams exchanged leads for much of the first half and into the start of the second. Down the stretch, Furman’s star guard Jordan Lyons took over the game to close out the Bears.

During the season the Bears went 0-8 against the league’s top 4 teams: Wofford, UNCG, ETSU and Furman. Yet half of those losses were by single digits and one went into overtime. Senior guard Jaylen Stowe said despite the losses, the team was always right there at the end competing for the win.

“Coach always put us in position to win every game,” he said. “Sometimes (the outcome) didn’t happen like that. But I think teams respect us because they know they are going to get our best for 40 minutes.”

Stowe starred in his final game as a Bear leading the team in scoring with 16 points and said he is proud of his last performance.

“I just tried to leave it all out there,” he said. “These kind of games you just got to play as hard as you can and live with the results. I feel like I did that today.”

The other senior, Cory Kilby, sat the last few games of the regular season due to an injury before returning to the court on senior night. For much of the week it looked like that injury might once again sideline him for the tournament but he drew the start and chipped in eight points and four rebounds.

“It was great to be back out there. It was tough to sit out those games with my injury,” Kilby said. “In the tournament, we know it is win or go home. So the stakes are high. So I just wanted to go out there and compete.”

The Bears have competed in a league that Hoffman believes is one of the toughest conferences in the country. Hoffman challenged the NCAA Tournament committee to select one of the teams for an at-large bid on Selection Sunday along with the team that receives the automatic bid for winning the SoCon tournament.

“There is a bunch of good teams in our league,” he said. “If one of our teams can’t get an at-large then I don’t think there is a mid-major team that will ever get an at-large....Hopefully, somebody will pay attention and do the right thing in those committee meetings.”

While the season ended in disappointment, Hoffman is hopeful for the future as many players are returning next season. He said the young guys on the team really stepped up as the season progressed and could compete at a high level next season.

“I believe we have some pieces that can really put us in a good position,” he said. “We just need to add a few guys at the right spot with some athleticism that can allow us to play at the level we want to play in this league.”

Hoffman said he is focused on getting the program back to its winning ways.

“I am sorry for them. I am sorry for our fans that I wasn’t able to help them more. This is not what we want,” he said. “This is not how Mercer basketball would want to be seen. We want to win championships.”

Athletic Director Jim Cole told The Telegraph Saturday night that he has not had discussions with Hoffman about his future with the team at this time.

Cole said that he has a meeting with every Mercer coach at the end of their athletic team’s season to recap the year and discuss the future of the team and plans to have one with Hoffman as well.

“Right now we are just excited for the women’s game tomorrow,” Cole said.