Defensive switch keys Mercer's comeback win over George Mason
Trailing by 11 points with 12:27 remaining to play Monday night against George Mason, the Mercer Bears went against their character a bit.
Head coach Bob Hoffman and the coaching staff went away from their usual man-to-man defense and changed to a zone defense as the Bears were looking for a way to get back into the game. And that sparked the Bears to a 69-60 win.
Mercer (2-0) hosts Alabama State on Thursday.
"It was fun to watch our guys find a way at the end collectively to get it done," Hoffman said. "And they did it play after play, and they kept getting more and more energy when they kept making those plays together. As a coach, it doesn't get any better than that when you watch your guys excited for each other when they have those kind of possessions like they did."
That started with the move to the zone defense, which sparked a 21-4 run. Jordan Strawberry and Phillip Leonard were strong at the top of the zone, while freshman Ethan Stair, transfer Desmond Ringer and sophomore Stephon Jelks rounded out the unit that led the run.
"They were driving it and weren't shooting it as well from 3 we didn't think," Hoffman said of the Patriots (0-2). "We talked about it a little bit, but not as much as we ended up playing it. We kind of got in a rhythm, and when I subbed Jordan in to play with Phil, they were really good on the top of the zone. Ethan Stair, Jordan, Phil and Steph around Desmond Ringer, that was pretty good defense."
The Bears' offense gained momentum from that defense. Jelks, playing through a banged up shoulder, finished with 16 points, while Leonard and sophomore Demetre Rivers each had 10.
Stair finished with eight points and played a team-high 32 minutes, while Jestin Lewis had seven points, including a big 3-pointer late off a rebound and assist from Ringer, who had six points and six rebounds. And 7-foot-1 junior Andrew Fishler had six points on 3-of-4 shooting.
The Bears' bench outscored the Patriots' bench 20-6.
"Oh, a great win," Leonard said. "We could have folded down 11. We could have not battled back and said, 'It's their night,' but we didn't do that. We all came together, and said, 'We're going come out and get this one.' "
In doing so, the Bears showed the determination their head coach wants to see out of the team, especially this early in the season.
"It was all about heart and determination. We came in in the second half and got down by 11 or 12, and we got in the huddle and said, 'If we want to win this, we've got to win this,' " Jelks said. "So we came out there with heart and fire and came back together as a team and won.
"This team right here we're special. We play together, and we play with heart. Everybody's together on one page, and if we do that, we can beat anybody."
This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Defensive switch keys Mercer's comeback win over George Mason ."