Mercer not focusing record after another tough loss
The record says Mercer is 5-7, but that’s not what the Bears are focusing on.
Mercer dropped its second straight difficult loss Thursday night, falling 98-96 in triple-overtime to La Salle. That came on the heels of a loss to Auburn on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer Sunday.
The Bears have lost six of their past seven games, with those losses coming to one Mid-American Conference team (Akron), three Atlantic 10 teams (George Mason, Davidson and La Salle), one ACC team (Clemson) and one SEC team (Auburn).
Throw in a loss to Florida in the second game of the season, and Mercer’s seven losses have come to teams with a combined record of 59-21.
“I don’t think we look at the record. We look at who we’ve played and how we’ve battled all season,” junior point guard Jordan Strawberry said. “We’ve played some really good teams; I’m talking about Florida, Clemson. Those teams are top 25 teams in the country. We’ve played some really good teams, and I think we’ve battled, and our record doesn’t show who we really are, so I think we’re going to be all right.”
The Bears certainly battled Thursday night.
Mercer forced overtime on a 3-pointer from Stephon Jelks with 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation, and the Bears and Explorers (6-4) went back and forth through the three five-minute overtime periods. La Salle, however, made just enough plays to pull out the win and send the Bears into the Christmas break before they return to the court Wednesday at Kennesaw State.
That will be Mercer’s final non-conference game of the season.
“We’re coming together, and we’re trusting each other, and that’s what we have to do most,” Strawberry said. “We’re going to get going in league play. We’re going to play some good teams, but we’re not going to play any teams like we’ve played in the non-conference.”
If the Bears’ starting backcourt continues to play the way it has so far, especially Thursday, the Mercer should be in good shape in Southern Conference play.
Strawberry and fellow junior Ria’n Holland both had career-high scoring nights against La Salle. Strawberry finished with 31 points and six assists. He hit 10-of-17 shots from the floor, including five 3-pointers. Holland also hit five 3-pointers, and he finished with 27 points on 9-of-22 shooting.
“I think they’re going to keep being really good because they look for each other, and our bigs are doing a good job with screening angles,” Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. “And our assistants have done an outstanding job of continuing to develop those guys. They were good players, but they continue to get better.”
Strawberry, likewise, thinks that growth will continue. After all, the two have played only 12 games together after Holland transferred to Mercer this offseason.
“We’re just trusting each other, learning each other’s games, when not to go, when to go,” Strawberry said. “I think we’re just passing off, him and me, just him getting shots, then I’m getting shots. I’m finding him, he’s finding me. It’s fun. When you’ve got a guy like that who can shoot the ball like that and another guy who can shoot the ball like that, it’s fun.”
This story was originally published December 23, 2016 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Mercer not focusing record after another tough loss."