Mercer’s season comes to end with loss to East Tennessee State
Mercer’s run of five straight trips to the postseason came to an end Saturday night. That’s when the Bears dropped a 73-66 decision to East Tennessee State in the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
Bob Hoffman’s Bears drop to 15-17 with their third loss to East Tennessee State this season. The Bucs improve to 25-7 and will face Samford on Sunday in the tournament semifinals. The other semifinal pits Wofford against UNC Greensboro. UNC Greensboro and East Tennessee State shared the regular-season title with Furman, which was upset by Samford on Saturday.
Mercer started the game strong with a 20-7 lead, including 10 points from Ria’n Holland, but the Bucs recovered to trail by just one at the half. East Tennessee State controlled the action in the second half.
Five who mattered
Demetre Rivers: The junior forward led the Bears with 18 points, hitting 7-of-17 from the floor. He made three 3-pointers.
Holland: The junior finished with 14 points after his strong start, hitting 4-of-11
Jordan Strawberry: The junior point guard made 6-of-16 shots and finished with 16 points.
Desonta Bradford: The junior led the Bucs with 21 points and had five rebounds and three assists.
Tevin Glass: The senior had 15 points, hitting 5-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line for the Bucs.
Turning point
The game was tied at 45, but the Bucs went on an 11-0 run to put the Bears away.
Observations
Offensive struggles after halftime: Mercer shot 43.8 percent in the first half (14-of-32) but made only 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) in the second half.
Less long distance: Mercer finished with eight 3-pointers and was 6-of-14 in the first half. The Bears were just 2-of-9 after the half.
Help from the bench: East Tennessee State’s depth paid off against Mercer with a 21-11 advantage in points off the bench.
Controlling the paint: East Tennessee State had a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint.
Worth mentioning
Taking control of the series: East Tennessee State has won six straight in the series and has knocked the Bears out of the conference tournament in the quarterfinals the past two seasons.
They said it
Hoffman on the loss: “Our guys played their tails off. We had a couple of loose balls. We didn’t quite go all the way, but we fought really hard. We made play after play but weren’t really able to get much going in the second half. They played really tough and physical defense, and they’re really good at it. They’re one of the best defensive teams in the league. We weren’t able to get to the free-throw line in the first half. They’re a tremendous team and very well-coached, but they beat our butts. Our guys gave every ounce of effort they had.”
Holland on the struggles after the strong start: “Our shot selection and the way we were executing fell off after the first run. They’re a great defensive team, they play hard, but we just got down. It’s hard to come back against a good team once you fall in that hole. We fought hard and tried to claw our way back in.”
East Tennessee State head coach Steve Forbes: “You have to give a lot of credit to Mercer. They came out and really played their tail off and shot the ball really well. I am so proud of our team. It happens a lot in tournament time with a team coming out and playing really well. But we didn’t fracture, we stayed connected, and we stayed really tough defensively. We didn’t panic, and then the ball started going in the hole. We felt pretty good at halftime because we didn’t shoot the ball so well and we were only down one. In the second half, we got the lead and we got it going. We guarded well the entire game.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 11:56 PM with the headline "Mercer’s season comes to end with loss to East Tennessee State."