Mercer men return home after tough road trip

It has been a difficult stretch for the Mercer men's basketball team, on and off the court.

The Bears have dealt with the death of a teammate and the suspension of two starters, while playing four games in eight days. Mercer won its first game after the death of Jibri Bryan on Feb. 2, but the Bears have lost three straight since that win, playing all four games without starters Jestin Lewis and Desmond Ringer.

Mercer returns home Thursday to host Western Carolina and Saturday to host East Tennessee State in its final two home games, and Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said Tuesday he doesn't expect Lewis and Ringer to return this season.

"I believe our guys will be ready for this weekend," Hoffman said. "We played four games in eight days in the midst of everything that was going on, and it was just a really tough stretch. I believe our guys are back in a regular class routine, and we've been able to practice a little bit. We weren't able to practice and figure out what we could do with the new group during that stretch."

Mercer has dropped to 18-9 overall and 8-6 in Southern Conference play, and the Bears have four games remaining in the regular season before heading to Asheville, North Carolina, for the conference tournament. Western Carolina is 11-16 overall and 6-8 in the conference, and the Catamounts beat the Bears in double-overtime last month.

"We've just got to focus on getting better every day and figuring out what we can do and not what we haven't done and focus on what we can still do and be positive in everything that we are trying to accomplish," Hoffman said. "Our guys are focused on trying to get these games, which are still very important. We still have a chance to have a special year; that's the most important thing for us right now -- trying to get better and trying to figure out what we can do with the group we have right now."

Getting back home should help the Bears for these two games as they look to get back on track. Since conference play started Mercer's fans have set a Hawkins Arena record for attendance three times, and the Bears are looking for more of the same for their next two games.

Mercer is fifth in the Southern Conference standings, while Western Carolina is tied for sixth with UNC Greensboro.

"It's definitely great to be home. To play in front of our fans and to get back in a rhythm and get to practice together and jell together with how we're playing, that will be good for us," senior Phillip Leonard said. "It's going to be big for us. All these games are going to be important for seeding, and we need to get hot going into the conference tournament."

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Mercer men return home after tough road trip ."