Mercer pulls away to match best start in more than 30 years

Mercer matched the best start in program history in more than 30 years Wednesday night, easily dispatching Hiwassee toward the end of the night in a 82-47 win at Hawkins Arena.

The Bears, who improved to 7-1, tied the mark set by the 1984-85 squad that was led by Sam Mitchell. 

The visiting Tigers (4-7) hung with the Bears, trailing by fewer than 15 points for a better part of the game until the final 10 minutes, when Mercer pulled away on the strength of a 14-8 run to put the Bears ahead 63-43 with less than nine minutes to play. Mercer outscored Hiwassee 26-4 in the game’s final 10 minutes. The Tigers trailed 26-20 with 5:28 to go in the first half before a 6-0 run pushed the Bears’ advantage to 32-20. Mercer led by at least 10 points the rest of the way.

The Bears enjoyed a balance of scoring as three players finished in double figures, led by the 17 points of Jestin Lewis, 11 of Ethan Stair and 10 from Demetre Rivers.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Jestin Lewis: A hallmark of Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman’s teams continues to be a seemingly different player being able to step up and lead offensively from night to night. That proved true Wednesday. With leading scorer Phillip Leonard held to three points, Lewis more than picked up the slack, scoring 17 points, one short of matching a career high. 

Jacob Elliott: Elliott was a major reason for the Tigers being able to keep within striking distance through the game’s first 30 minutes. The forward thrived from the outside, scoring 13 points, 10 in the first half.  

Ethan Stair: Stair came off the bench and didn’t get into the scoring column until late in the first half, but the freshman guard made up for lost time. He gave the Tigers something else to focus on defensively, pouring in 11 points and making a 3-pointer. Like Lewis, he also came up a point shy of matching a career high.  

TURNING POINT

For much of the game, Hiwassee was on the cusp of cutting the Mercer lead to single digits. That changed with a little more than 10 minutes to play. Followed by a score by Lawrence Brown, an alley-oop to Stair extended the Mercer lead to 54-38, its largest lead of the game to that point. The Tigers didn’t threaten after that.

THEY SAID IT

Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman on the win: “Our guys executed toward the end of the first half and really went on a run and got some separation. That was really, I thought, our best minutes of the game, those four or five minutes up until the end of the first half. It was a close game up until that.”

Hoffman on the chance to match the program’s best start since 1984-85: “We’ll talk about it, we already did. You need to know what you are playing for. If you can get that done, that would be huge. You think of all the years that Mercer has played basketball. If we can have the best start (in program history), that speaks volumes about what these guys have done here in the beginning of the season.

Lewis on Mercer’s 7-1 start: “All we’ve been saying in the locker room is, ‘Let’s make history this year.’ We have a chance to make history with a big game on Saturday.”

Lewis on Mercer having different players step up: “That’s basically our identity. It’s not really one player, it’s a team. On any given night, it can be somebody different.”

Stair on being able to come off the bench: “Before the game, Coach (Hoffman) talked about bringing energy to the floor. I was just trying to come in there and do my job. Everyone has a role, and I was just trying to follow it.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Mercer hosts Alcorn State at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday before embarking on a four-game road trip against Auburn, Arkansas, Ohio State and Kennesaw State. The Bears won’t play at home again until Mercer’s Southern Conference opener on Jan. 2 against Samford.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Mercer pulls away to match best start in more than 30 years ."