Mercer graduates, community and others reflect on Bears big win over Duke six years later

On March 21, 2014 the Mercer Bears shocked the sports world with a win over the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Six years later, in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak that has canceled this year’s edition of March Madness, it’s a good time to reminisce on those great memories from that day.

As a class of 2017 Mercer graduate, I had a front-row seat (well, I was actually in the second row) to witness the upset my freshman year of college.

I remember very little of the actual game outside of a couple plays here and there. The memory that has stuck with me from that was meeting a pair of guys who just came down for the day to watch the tournament.

Brandon Redfern and Mike Livesay, were a pair of college basketball fans who happened to wander over to where I was sitting in the student section. We struck up a conversation and formed a friendship that lasts to this day.

Redfern introduced himself and Livesay and tasked me with convincing them that Mercer had a chance to win. When I decided to go on the trip, I had convinced myself that it was an opportunity of a lifetime to see one of the greatest coaches of all time, leading one of the top teams in the country with star freshman Jabari Parker. Not much thought had gone into how Mercer might topple this giant until that moment.

As Redfern tells, I began to rattle of 1,000 reasons over the course of the next 20 minutes and by the end of it, he was convinced that Mercer did indeed have a shot to win.

At the end of the first half, the Bears trailed by one. That was the moment it sunk in that there was a small chance the Mercer might actually be able to pull it off. But like so many, I expected Duke to come out of the locker room after a speech from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and pull away.

Yet for the next 20 minutes, it was the Bears on the verge of pulling away. Late in the game, they opened up a 10-point lead until a buzzer-beater by one of the Blue Devils cut it to single digits.

What happened next was just hysteria. Lots of jumping around and screaming. The infamous Nae-Nae dance by Kevin Canevari.

Hordes of people came up to congratulate us on knocking off Duke, most were North Carolina fans who were offering to buy the shirts off the backs of students. Few would relinquish their piece of Mercer history.

I decided to become a sports writer and have had the chance to cover the team as a journalist, but I often think back on the time when I was simply a fan without a care in the world but watching Mercer take down a giant. The moment has even been turned into a book in recent months.

This week I reached out to others who were either at the game or supporting the Bears from afar and asked for their favorite memories. There are also quotes from a sit-down with the team from the five-year anniversary story.Some quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Brandon Redfern, friend I met at the game

“I still have the videos and tell my kids about it. Mike (Livesay) and I got there early. We were supposed to sit up in the nosebleeds but I told Mike I need to find someone to convince me that this team I’ve never heard of had a chance. Go figure the first person we start chatting with was the only one we needed to ask. You (Justin) knew that Mercer team up and down, along with all the matchups to expose. Almost every word that you said needed to happen played out. I was convinced. You then invited us to stay and watch and it ended up being one of the best sports experiences I’ll ever have.”

Kevin Canevari, senior point guard on the 2013-2014 team

“Just winning. Once that final buzzer went off we were all just ecstatic, you know obviously it was just a special time.”

Anthony White Jr., senior guard on 2013-2014 team

“(Just) walking back to the locker room and it is us plastered all over ESPN. It was just an awesome feeling.”

Sarah Pounds, Class of 2018

“I was in my senior year of high school at Jones County High School - the cool teachers let us watch the game during class, and when Mercer won, we definitely had some people running and yelling in the hallway. I honestly didn’t even really know who Duke was at that point, but I knew that beating them was a big deal.”

Melissa Niedrauer, Class of 2017

“I was so excited when the basketball team made the tournament, and we all got to go see them play with the big leagues. I’m not sure that we expected to beat Duke, we were just excited to be there in the first place. It was absolutely surreal when we won. The whole student section was jumping up and down, screaming, hugging, and high-fiving. It was definitely the best basketball game I ever went to, and I think about it often.”

Thomas Norton, Class of 2016

“I had been chatting and bantering with the Duke fan next to me the whole game. Then it all changed. Mercer tied the game on an Anthony White, Jr. three under the 3-minute mark, and Duke took a timeout. Among the madness and the screaming, the Duke fan and I took a moment to look around, and we had a simultaneous realization – this was happening. It was right at that moment when I knew we were going to win. And that was the most surreal moment of any during my four years as a student watching

Lori Johnson, Mercer professor

“I was in Mercer Village watching on the big screen. I remember being grateful they were just playing them close, then it dawned on me they might actually win. Then all my friends from around the country were sending me messages “what school is it you are teaching at again?”

Jeremy Timmerman, Class of 2008

“That day was so crazy. My oldest son was like a year and a half old, and he didn’t know why mommy and daddy were yelling in the living room, but he wanted to yell too. It was so cool to have people know about my university.”

Jordan Price, Class of 2017

“I watched the game in Mercer Village with about 200 other people on a giant screen. Everyone was going crazy. Everyone was about to riot when the screen went black in the last 30 seconds but they fixed it thankfully. Beating Duke convinced me we could beat Tennessee and make the Sweet 16. We pretend that game didn’t happen.”

Joey Wozniak, Class of 2016

“Mercer’s win over Duke was one of my greatest memories from college. Standing next to one of my good friends, Timothy Lewis, we both screamed and cheered nonstop. The entire arena was cheering for Mercer. On the 8-hour bus ride back to Macon, I actually had the first migraine of my life - which was a direct result of how frequent and loud I was screaming. “

This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 6:00 AM.