Mercer returns home looking for some momentum

College basketball coaches all around the country talk about how hard it is to win on the road in conference play.

The Mercer Bears got another lesson in that last week.

The Bears went to overtime in both of their games but lost 65-63 to East Tennessee State and 86-80 to Western Carolina (in two overtimes). Mercer is 14-6 overall and 4-3 in Southern Conference play with all three conference losses coming on the road.

The Bears return home to face VMI on Thursday and UNC Greensboro on Saturday.

"We get home and have an opportunity to get a crowd in here. We were really close on two games, weren't able to finish them and played some really good people," Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. "They executed well. We didn't finish as well as we'd like, but that's the way conference basketball is all over the country. All you have to do is look around at almost every conference, it's hard to win on the road in conference play. They know you better than anybody else.

"We understand that, but we've got to get back, we've got to make some more shots, we've got to be a little tougher in our finish and finding ways to finish. And we've got to get it started on Thursday against a VMI team that had a really good week last week."

The Keydets are 6-12 overall and 1-6 in conference play. They got their first conference win last week against Samford.

QJ Peterson leads VMI with an average of 18.3 points per game, while Julian Eleby is also in double figures at 14.9.

Mercer is 8-0 at home. Chattanooga and East Tennessee State lead the conference standings at 6-1, while Furman is 5-3 and Mercer is tied with Wofford at 4-3.

The Bears lost to Chattanooga and beat Furman and Wofford.

"You've got to take care of your home," Hoffman said. "We've still got a chance to win the league. It's not out of the question. We're two games back. The two teams that are ahead of us still have to come here, so we understand that. But really all we're focusing on is VMI, trying to find a way to get back on track and get a W."

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Mercer returns home looking for some momentum ."