Mercer jumps right back into action against Radford

Mercer won’t have much time to celebrate a comeback win over Georgia Southern on Sunday because the Bears have a game Tuesday night.

That’s just the way Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman likes it.

The Bears (2-1) host Radford at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Hawkins Arena in their second game of the Savannah Invitational. There are two more games in the tournament with the final two coming in Savannah this weekend — against East Carolina on Friday and then a game Saturday against an opponent to be determined.

“That’s the way conference play is,” Hoffman said Sunday about the quick turnaround. “You play a game, and then two nights later, you play a really good team. You can celebrate a little bit, but you’ve got to get right back at it.”

Even with many new faces, the Bears are off to a solid start to the season with both wins coming at home and the loss coming at Florida. Mercer has been led in scoring in all three games by junior transfer Ria’n Holland, who is averaging 21.0 points per game. Demetre Rivers and Stephon Jelks are both averaging in double figures at 11.0 and 10.0 points, respectively, and Jordan Strawberry and Desmond Ringer are both averaging 8.0 points.

Radford is 1-2, beating Central Penn and losing to Wake Forest and Akron. Caleb Tanner is the Highlanders’ leading scorer at 10.3 points per game, and they have six players averaging 7.0 points or more.

“Guard-oriented good team; they’ve got some bigs,” Hoffman said. “They’ve had some success they last few years, so we’ll have to be ready.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Mercer jumps right back into action against Radford."