Men’s Basketball

Men’s basketball stays perfect at home in conference play, streaks past KSU, UNF

By:
Published Jan 25, in M. Basketball, Sports

The Mercer men’s basketball team would deny the Owls of Kennesaw State University their first conference win in dramatic fashion in the University Center on a not-so-unlucky Friday the 13th. The Bears came away with the victory, 81-51, while shooting 62 percent from the field, 65 percent from long range and 100 percent from the charity stripe. It was raining threes throughout the game, as the orange and black went 13-for-20 from outside the arc.
Sophomore Langston Hall broke out of a recent slump in grand fashion, going 5 for 8 from the floor, 5 for 6 from three, 2 for 2 from the foul line, while adding seven rebounds and seven assists. Sophomore Daniel Coursey added 14 points, three steals, one block and one rebound. His most crowd-pleasing plays, however, was a pair of monster dunks, one in each half. Redshirt sophomore Jake Gollon was perfect on the night, adding 11 points while going 4 for 4 from the field, 2 for 2 from three-point distance, and 1 for 1 from the charity stripe. “The rivalry between us has been building for a few years,” said Gollon. “We were super pumped to play and I think the home fans really helped out with momentum. Glad we got the win,” he added.
The Bears would claim sole possession atop the Atlantic Sun Conference standings a little over a week later after beating the University of North Florida on Jan. 21. Despite countless questionable calls, the orange and black came away with a 69-58 victory over the Ospreys, which pushed them to first place after ETSU and Belmont lost earlier in the day.
Coursey led the way for the bears, adding 13 points in 15 minutes due to some early foul trouble. Coursey also added four blocks and five rebounds. Gollon notched 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and a steal on the night. Junior college transfer Travis Smith provided a spark off of the bench, contributing 12 points in 15 minutes. Smith also had three rebounds. “It’s just unbelievable, they compete and they find ways to get it done,” head coach Bob Hoffman told mercerbears.com. “There are a lot of games left, but we have a lot of guys who can make plays and we are continuing to play hard,” he added.
The victory over UNF gives Mercer a 14-7 record overall, with a 6-2 conference record, which is the best start of any team under Coach Hoffman and the best start for Mercer since the 2004-05 campaign. “We are still an undefeated team at home during conference play,” said sophomore guard Bud Thomas. “UNF is a good team with a lot of good players and to defend our home court and move into first place is important,” he added.
There is no rest for the Bears, however, as they play against Jacksonville University only two days later. The game against Jacksonville will cap off a three-game home stretch. Hoffman’s team will then travel to Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast Atlantic before returning to the UC for games against USC Upstate, who just beat Belmont and ETSU on Feb. 4 and Feb. 6 respectively.

Mercer Madness recap

By:
Published Oct 30, in Campus, News

As the crowds gathered into the Intramural Courts around 10 p.m. on an October Saturday night, the air filled with the excitement of Mercer Basketball.

One of the most popular student events each academic year, Mercer Madness, was held on Saturday night, Oct. 22, from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. in the University Center Intramural Courts. This annual event serves as the official kick-off for the men’s and women’s basketball seasons. The celebration always includes an array of exciting events. This year, unlike the past couple of years, featured a more engaging and party-like atmosphere. One significant difference was the draw of the intramural dodgeball tournament as well as jousting and basketball inflatables commonly featured at other popular events throughout the year. In addition, there was free food, giveaways, music, and a three-point competition between two players from each of the men’s and women’s teams as well as a random boy and girl from the student body.

The event was an overall success. The Pep Band and Cheerleaders ushered in the new basketball season with loud and spirited cheers which were quickly followed by the men’s and women’s basketball teams introducing themselves and inviting the student body to come out, have fun, and cheer on the teams as they begin their exciting season. Come out to support the Bears in the first games of the season; a double header on Thursday, Nov. 4 starting off with the women’s game at 5 p.m., and the men’s game immediately following at 7:30 p.m.

The Inside Zone

The art of 'porch-ing'

By:
Published Mar 30, in Columns, Sports, The INside Zone

 

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Zach will have plenty of memories to share on his porch following another impressive season from the Bears.

I love big porches with columns. In fact, I would say that, other than giant mutant cockroaches and no liquor sales on Sunday, porches are my favorite thing about Georgia. This is my first spring season having a porch, and I’m not sure anyone or anything has had such a major impact on my life (and yes, I do know Jesus). I have a special appreciation for porches, because we don’t really utilize them in my home state of Oklahoma. A nice porch is as useless as a poopy-flavored lollipop where I’m from, because gale-force winds are not uncommon—I might as well sit on the toilet with a blow dryer in my face. In Oklahoma, it’s not that we don’t want to “porch it.” It seems like a great thing to do, but it’s just not reasonable. So if I really get down to it, it’s actually the amazing Georgia spring weather that allows me to enjoy my porch in front of my dilapidated house. The weather is totally outside of our control, but the place we live is not.  In my opinion, when it comes to “porch-ing” (or learning that NASCAR events are actually broadcast on the radio), there is no better place to be than in Georgia.

When it comes to basketball, there is no team I’d rather be involved with than the Mercer Bears. I love these guys almost as much as Lil Wayne loves objectifying women in his songs. I’ve been around college athletes my entire life, and I can honestly say that this group is special. After losing two of our top three scorers to major knee injuries, this team came together like Waffle House and drunk people at 3:00 a.m. The difference between the first and second half of the year was not unlike the difference in personal hygiene levels between the Phi Mu sorority house and the SAE frat house (drastic, and I’ll let you guess which is which).

Brian Mills went from being one of my favorite guys (no homo) to being one of my favorite players to watch. I have honestly never seen, in person, a player dominate games from the mid-range like “Millsy.” Mark Hall, who had come off the bench his entire career at Mercer and had never shown an ounce of discontent, took more charges than Paris Hilton’s credit card this year after being put in the starting lineup. “Sweets” also managed to shoot nearly 40 percent from the three-point line and, when needed, showed the ability to take over a game. Jake Gollon, who has been very nearly physically lame throughout his first two years at Mercer, made huge plays and game-winning shots during the second half of the season. Langston Hall was one of the best point guards in the conference as a freshman. Chris Smith, Bud Thomas, Monty Brown, Justin Cecil, Paul Larsen and Kevin Canevari all stepped up and made what must seem like a very mediocre year to those outside the program a very special year for me.
Every time I thought the season was in ruins, someone else did something that I did not expect.  Coaches from other teams would ask me, “How are you guys doing this?” to which I would confidently reply, “I have no earthly idea.” The truth is, however, that we had a bunch of guys who knew their role, genuinely cared about each other, played extremely hard and wanted to do the right thing. The best thing about these guys off the court is that they genuinely care about each other and, for the most part, want to do the right thing. This is why there is no other college team I would rather be “a part” of. This is also why “porch-ing it” in Georgia has become my favorite pastime—the weather is great, but being in the company of my boys is better.

Unfortunately, our season ended much like the Oklahoma porch-ing experience. Like an unexpected calm, we made a run with young players and some great coaching. We enjoyed a few serene moments, with only a slight breeze easing the heat on a warm spring day. We then played Belmont in the A-Sun tournament, a veritable twister of basketball skills (real talk), and had a nice dose of Oklahoma red dirt blown all up in our faces. Much like porch-ing it in Oklahoma, the experience gave us some sweet moments but a bitter taste in our mouths and tears in our eyes. So right now I’m thanking God I’m in Georgia, because there are no gusting winds and there is nothing I’d rather be doing than porch-ing it with some of my favorite guys, reliving some great memories from an unforgettable year.

Men’s basketball beats Lipscomb, loses to Belmont in A-Sun tourney

Mills and Hall shine in their final game at Mercer

By:
Published Mar 16, in M. Basketball, Sports

By: Garret McDowell

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Brian Mills led the Bears in a rousing effort during Mercer's two tournament games before spring break.

Despite having a chance late in the Atlantic wwSun semifinal tournament game against eventual champion Belmont, the Bruins eliminated Mercer 80-72 to drop the Bears’ overall record to 15-18, 11-9 in conference play and 1-1 in the tournament.

Mercer 73, Lipscomb 63
In what might have been the loudest night for a Mercer game this season, the Bears took on Lipscomb in the four-five seed game in the 2011 Atlantic Sun Men’s Basketball Championship. The Bears were led by Brian Mills and Mark Hall as the two seniors continued to keep the team calm and motivated to maintain a double-digit lead throughout the raucous contest. Brian Mills scored 27, a game-high total, and contributed six boards and two blocks. This was the 26th time this season that Brian Mills scored in the double digits. Mark Hall added 12 and teammate Bud Thomas had an important 12 points.

Last year’s conference Player of the Year was Lipscomb’s Adnan Hodzic. His 18 points per game average was cut in half and the Bears’ pesky defense held him in check all night. Lipscomb’s other big player, Josh Slater, added 18 points. This was the second consecutive win over Lipscomb for Mercer in back-to-back contest. They led by 11 at the half and then led by as much as 14 during the game.

Head coach Bob Hoffman added afterwards, “Our guys played tough and they played tough for 40 minutes. I didn’t want to hear anything else other than we are going to fight harder.”

Belmont 80, Mercer 72
Despite being the home team and having a partisan crowd, Mercer was unable to upset the tournament favorite Belmont as the Bruins won in an incredibly hostile environment. Brian Mills performed well, recording his fifth double-double this season with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. The Bears were out in front early but that early lead against Belmont disappeared for the second day in a row, just as Kennesaw lost control the day prior in the first round.

Mercer clawed their way back into the game as Jake Gollon scored 19 points on the night, but Belmont beat Mercer on the boards 35 to 27, completely taking away the shooting advantage and enthusiastic crowd. They had four players hit double figures and all 11 Bruins who saw action on the court were able to score at least one field goal. Belmont went on to defeat North Florida in the championship by 41 points, receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Tough loss against Belmont, thriller versus Lipscomb

Mercer basketball heads into A-Sun tournament with fifth seed

By:
Published Mar 2, in Breaking, M. Basketball, News, Sports

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Mercer's Langston Hall drives toward the basket in recent hoop action in the University Center.

Battling the two of the top teams in the conference, Mercer’s men’s basketball team held their own against a pair of tough conference opponents from Nashville, Belmont and Lipscomb, to close out the 2010-11 regular season. Going 1-1 in their final two games at home, the Bears solidified their 5th seed in the Atlantic Sun postseason tournament in Macon.

Belmont 75, Mercer 64
The hottest team in all of mid-major college basketball stunned a large crowd in the University Center, handling the Bears in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Mercer led early, with a seven point halftime lead, but a surging Bruins’ offense opened leads as large as 24 points in the second half, dooming Mercer’s upset bid for the night.

Brian Mills (15 points, eight rebounds) would lead the scoring for Mercer on a night where they sank 42.6% of their shots from the field. Teammate Justin Cecil chipped in 11 points while role player Jake Gollon would add nine points in limited action. Belmont’s team-centered approach would see 11 different players score during the course of the game, led by Kerron Johnson’s 12 points.

“(Belmont) Coach Byrd did a good job tonight,” said Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman following the game on MercerBears.com. “We took away a few things, but we didn’t take away enough. We also didn’t get to the free throw line as much in the second half and that was a big issue for us,” he added.

“I thought we kind of lost our energy for a spell and they just kept coming at us,” said Hoffman.

Mercer 68, Lipscomb 67
The Bears won a last-second thriller in a game that ultimately didn’t matter in terms of seeding, knocking off the visiting Bison when point guard Josh Slater’s shot didn’t fall through the hoop. With Mercer’s seniors being honored at halftime, the Bears came out to a vocal crowd with a full student section and nearly full arena.

As expected, both teams made runs throughout the game with six ties and ten lead changes throughout the course of the contest. Neither team was able to mount much of a lead during the contest, but it was a key three-pointer by Jake Gollon that gave the Bears a four point cushion with only 22 seconds remaining. A Lipscomb bucket from Josh Slater cut the lead to one point and then a pair of missed free-throws from Mark Hall gave LU a chance to win the game at the final buzzer.

Driving the length of the court, Slater’s last chance shot bounced twice around the rim before falling short to bring the crowd to their feet in the final regular season game of the season.

Brian Mills would lead Mercer’s offensive charge with 20 points while freshman Bud Thomas would add 10 points. The Bison’s Josh Slater (23 points) and Adnan Hodzic (17 points) were a dangerous pair on the night, but fell just short in their late rally.

Mercer and Lipscomb will take on each other in the first round of the Atlantic Sun tournament on Thursday night at 9pm.

Death of a sixth man

The Third Half

By:
Published Feb 23, in Columns, Sports, The Third Half

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff)Mercer “fan-hood” observed at a recent game. Athletic events simply need more of what’s pictured above.

No, this isn’t an opinion about Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, but it does borrow from its ideas of defining greatness. Perhaps the biggest take-away from the famous 1949 play is understanding the misconceptions of ourselves and how we should define greatness. Nevertheless, we’re talking about the “sixth man” on the basketball court: the crowd.

What defines a great crowd?  Is it the attendance number or maybe the noise level? Could it be the thrill of sitting next to your buddies and yelling until your larynx goes limp or could it be just waving your hands in the air when the wave comes to your side of the arena? It’s a question worth considering as Mercer looks to redefine and rebrand athletics after the announcement of football taking centerstage beginning in September of 2013.

I’ve considered the title for this column for some time.  Attendance is way up by all accounts to our men’s basketball games, the biggest money sport at Mercer, yet our student section wanes in support of the team. A small yet energetic group of rowdy fans known as “Hoffman’s Hooligans” command the first two rows of the section for most games, yet many times they seemed to be outnumbered by the apathetic un-enthusiasm of the crowd that hangs in the air like a thick fog after a hard rain.

Sports Illustrated recently released a study on the myths and proven reasons behind why home teams seem to win more often than visiting teams in nearly all sports. In summary, it boils down to the fact that the officials, not the crowd, are the largest influencers in the outcome of a game. The study also went on to reflect that psychology behind this phenomenon in that officials conform their calls to the social pressure created by the home crowd (i.e. using crowd noise to help them resolve uncertainties in making a call).

The point is that the home crowd can have an enormous effect, albeit in small ways, on the outcome of a game. That leads us to the question of introspection: why does our student body seem so lackadaisical in supporting even our biggest sports?

As of print time, the men’s team averages 2,086 people over the course of the 13 home games they played this season. Undoubtedly, that’s almost a 100 percent increase from four years ago and about a 40 percent increase from two seasons ago. However, more and more of the spectators are Maconites, not students.

It doesn’t seem to be a matter of wins and losses. The men’s basketball team seems to be matching last year’s record at this point in the season. We did lose popular players and a polarizing one in James Florence — fans either loved the way he played or couldn’t wait to get rid of him. It’s not a matter of promotions either, as Bass Pro Shops, Chick-fil-A, and a handful of other businesses have sponsored games this season.

I believe it’s the message that we hear from those who wish to be great (like Willy, the salesman in Death of a Salesman) but are unfortunately looking through life with jaded lenses. To put it bluntly, cheering a team on is not cool at Mercer. Supporting something other than yourself is not cool at Mercer. Those living under King David’s reign chastised him for dancing. We chastise others with our thoughts and eyes when we cheer exuberantly at games.

There are two people that go to Mercer: givers and takers.  Unfortunately, there are simply too many “takers” in the stands on any given night. They’re the ones who ask, “What can I get from the game?” and, “What’s in it for me?” They’re the ones who come to the game to look cool in their designer jeans and Patagonia jackets, hoping to impress. Mercer shouldn’t have to offer incentives and free T-shirts to encourage you to come to an event. In addition, what an embarrassment to the men’s and women’s soccer programs and volleyball programs when QuadWorks required students to attend at least three of six events in the fall to get a priority homecoming ticket. Students showed up to sign in, only to leave after five minutes. That’s embarrassing and if you’re a taker — shame on you!

No, we cannot be involved in all campus activities, but for the ones we are involved in, shouldn’t we take them and leave them better than we found them? Why is Duke such an imposing place to play? Students took it upon themselves to paint up and jump up and down for 40 minutes in order to pysch out other teams.

Hoffman, the men’s basketball team, and the rest of the athletic teams are doing what they can to put the best product on the field/court. Yes, winning sells tickets and goes a long way, but many Mercerians need to wake up and smell the coffee — life is not just about “Being the Bear,” adding as many activities and positions to the bottom of your e-mail signature as possible and looking out for #1 all the time. It’s not about being apathetic and lukewarm in the 1,426 things that you do around campus.

That’s my challenge to the student body. It’s almost March and it’s put-up-or-shut-up time. If you want to waste oxygen in the UC Arena and sit in an orange fold-out only to appear mildly interested in the happenings on the court and wondering how you benefit from coming to the game, don’t come. For those who want to cheer and cheer loudly to be the sixth man for the team — true Mercerians — I’ll see you at the game!

Men’s basketball dominant in A-Sun run

Mercer's hot streak helps team jockey for A-Sun tournament

By:
Published Feb 23, in Sports

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Mercer’s Justin Cecil attempts to dunk between two Florida Gulf Coast defenders in a recent home win against the Eagles.

The bad news Bears that were vying for the eighth and final spot a month ago are on the hottest streak in the Atlantic Sun, winning seven of their last ten games and nine of their last twelve. After devastating midseason injuries to guard Jeff Smith and forward Brandon Moore, the Bears have shown resilience under head coach Bob Hoffman in their ascension in the conference standings.  It’s a winning streak they hope to carry through to the Atlantic Sun tournament, hosted once again in Macon at the University Center March 2-5.

 Mercer 72, Stetson 62 OT

The beginning looked bleak as Mercer’s oldest rivals pulled out a 21-10 lead midway through the first half. However, Brian Mills carried the team after a slow start to tie the Hatters 25-25 at halftime. Both teams tried to mount significant leads in the second half, but to no avail.  With the Hatters leading by one point with 28 seconds left, freshman Bud Thomas had a chance to win the game but missed one of two free throws and then another two free throws to take the game to overtime.  

In overtime, Jake Gollon contributed seven points and six rebounds in Mercer’s rout of the Hatters in the five extra minutes to push Mercer towards another Atlantic Sun victory. Mark Hall carried Mercer through the night though with 23 points off of a 4-for-9 performance from the perimeter. Mills would finish with 21 points and eight rebounds while Gollon would chip in 14 points.

“Mark Hall was awesome tonight,” said head coach Bob Hoffman on MercerBears.com.  “He got every loose ball and the ones he didn’t Jake Gollon got.  It was a huge win and it was a great team win with our guys staying focused,” he added.

 Mercer 74, FGCU 61

The Bears throttled out to a quick start, building a 20-point first-half lead on the Eagles, only to fight off a late comeback during the second half. Florida Gulf Coast would tie the game at the 7:04 mark in the second half, but timely baskets from Brian Mills would prove beneficial to the Bears as the Douglasville senior amassed a team-high 22 points on the night.

Free throws were critical and the Bears cashed in from the charity stripe, knocking down 21-for-29 in the second half to seal the game. Justin Cecil scored 14 points as teammates Mark Hall (12 points) and Bud Thomas (10 points) also had hot hands on offense.

 Mercer 57, Kenn. State 55

In the biggest rivalry of recent years, it came down to one shot. With 9.5 seconds remaining, Bud Thomas inbounded to Langston Hall who then passed it back to Thomas on the right side of the court. A streaking Brian Mills caught the ensuing bounce pass to deposit it for the go-ahead score in an intense and physical game with the A-Sun neighbors from Atlanta. KSU’s Markeith Cummings (30 points) would miss a desperation three-pointer, allowing Mercer to punch another postseason ticket to the A-Sun tournament.

“Coach kept telling us to ‘believe, believe in each other,’” Mills said after the game.  “We’ve made it this far with each other. We called the play and Bud (Thomas) made an unbelievable pass and it worked,” he added.

In the thriller, it was a tale of two halves, of which Mercer controlled the first. However, the Bears hung on late despite a 54.5 percent shooting percentage from the Owls in the second half to win their ninth conference game of the season.  

 Mercer 78, North Florida 75

Moving quickly up the standings, the Bears’ trip to Jacksonville was anything but easy.  With both teams pulling out small leads in the first half and a tie at the break, Brian Mills had another legendary game with a career-high 34 points to lead Mercer to a win. With their backcourt in foul trouble (Thomas, Hall and Chris Smith would all eventually foul out), the big men shouldered the work as Jake Gollon and Justin Cecil provided excellent defense and offensive opportunities in the paint. Once again free throws were crucial as Gollon (2-2) and Mills (12-14) would hit shots down the stretch to give Mercer a cushion at the end.

 Jacksonville 74, Mercer 68

A pesky Dolphins team avenged their early season lose in the University Center with a big win at the Veterans Memorial Arena to snap Mercer’s five-game winning streak. The Bears never led on the night and despite Langston Hall’s 22 points, Mercer simply didn’t have the firepower to stay in the game although they shot 48.9 percent from the field for the game.  Turnovers were the key stat of the night as MU committed 20, their highest total since a Dec. 4 loss to Lipscomb (21).  

Despite the loss, Mercer returns home for their final two games of the regular season as they’ll face Belmont and Lipscomb, two tough opponents, at home before the beginning of the Atlantic Sun tournament March 2-5.

The INside Zone

It's the circle of life in college basketball

By:
Published Feb 9, in Sports, The INside Zone

(photo courtesy of MercerBears.com) Guard Jeff Smith was lost for the season after a knee injury following the overtime win against Jacksonville.

I’ve had a stressful couple of weeks, which is why on Tuesday I popped in the greatest movie of all time, “The Lion King”, poured a glass of red wine, and attempted to relax. As I sat on my disgusting couch that has been shredded by my roommate’s retarded dog (Jake, which is ironic because I have a retarded brother with the same name), I let the lyrics of the opening scene wash over me. “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba, Sithi uhm ingonyama,” over and over again. Then Elton John comes in with “The Circle of Life”, and I, naturally, burst into tears because of the gravity of the moment. In fact, when the Medicine Man Monkey with the blue ass held up little Simba, I joined the other animals, stomping around on the couch and making weird noises (i.e. Tom Cruise on Oprah). After I settled down, I began to think about life’s circles in relation to my Mercer Bears this season and eventually came to this conclusion: I hate knees.      

  I hate knees. If not for the extreme inconvenience it would be to tie my shoes or pull up my socks, I would have my knees removed and walk around like I was on a pair of stilts. Knees have ruined my life. They have caused me insufferable pain and a chance at playing in the NBA (my mother, who was nothing if not objective, happened to be the only person who believed that last part). I have spent more than three years of my life recovering from knee surgery. So I can sympathize a little bit with Jeff “Swagg-rite” Smith and Brandon “Nasty Mane” Moore. Over the last couple of weeks both of them have gone down with severe knee injuries—or as Swagg-rite so poignantly put it on his Facebook status, the Bears have lost two “fallen soldiers.” Swagg-rite, who was our leading scorer, tore his ACL during a huge home victory versus Jacksonville. Nasty Mane tore his ACL, and nearly everything else in his knee, against ETSU eleven days later.

 It is not uncommon for a team to suffer some major injuries during a season, but two senior starters going down within two weeks of each other would be the equivalent of Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck resigning from Fox News within the same period of time. We would all obviously be shocked and deeply depressed if that happened, and this is exactly how the Mercer basketball family felt about their fallen soldiers. Brian Mills texted me, “why does this have to happen now,” the night Brandon was injured. I drew on my vast amount of life experiences and wisdom. I painstakingly typed out several paragraphs of thoughtful insights on my phone, which if I broke it down basically said, “life sucks.” 

 Life obviously does not always suck for everybody, but it always sucks for somebody. The situation with Mercer basketball is no different. As Nasty Mane and Swagg-rite watch from the bench, the team will be forced to move on without them. Players who previously have seen little or no playing time will suddenly have an opportunity to play major minutes for a team who is still in the hunt for the conference tournament. It’s not fair, but life goes on—in circles.

 This is why the opening scene of “The Lion King” simultaneously brings me to tears and causes me to jump around on my couch. It’s difficult to give up the old, but I have to be excited about the new. I hate Swagg-rite’s and Nasty Mane’s knees almost as much as I hate my own, but torn-up knees are just part of the circle. So as I listened, through tears, to Elton John belting, “through despair and hope, through faith and love, til we find our place, it’s the circle,” I could only think of Swagg-rite’s most recent Facebook status: “THRU ALL DA PAIN AND DA STRUGGLIN I STILL SMILIN.” It’s all the same thing; life sucks, but we have to keep moving on. I hope my Bears can win a few games as the young guys learn how to play. I hope that the two senior “soldiers” who are left (Mills and Mark Hall) can lead us to some huge victories. But the one thing I know for certain, other than “only da strong will survive believe dat” (and I actually do believe “dat”), is that the circle of life will continue on, regardless of what I want.

The INside Zone

College Basketball Chaos

By:
Published Feb 9, in Sports, The INside Zone

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Brian Mills seemed to be possessed by the Greek storm god Poseidon, raining down thirty points on the USC-Upstate Spartans' heads.

Coach Hoffman (and pretty much every coach) preaches that every minute of every day is important in terms of winning games. Every sprint during practice, every free throw and every possession of every game matters. Sometimes this seems to be an obvious truth, but at other times I’m not so sure. There are innumerable ways in which people try to explain the happenings of the universe and not all of them make room for preparation: some people subscribe to the philosophy of the chaos theory, which basically states that future events are impossible to predict. Others believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful creator who organizes each and every event that takes place on this earth. Still others place the weight of their good fortune on a lucky pair of underwear. I have to believe in all three, because I am a college basketball fan—more specifically, a Mercer Bears basketball fan. 

The Mercer men’s basketball team’s Christmas Break was about as jolly as a kick to the crotch. We lost to Georgia, Charlotte and ETSU by a total of five points and gave up a nine-point second half lead to Georgia Tech—all within a twelve-day period. This would lead me to believe that the whole “every possession matters” theory is true, considering  the outcome of each of those games could have been changed by one more stop (or one more score). It’s difficult to explain the effect those games have on a basketball team—it’s almost like falling in love with a beautiful woman (“Winning” would be her name) and then finding out she’s in a relationship and was just jerking you around the whole time (which has never happened to me). It just crushes you physically, mentally and emotionally (like I said, totally metaphorical).  

The only bright spot during that period was when USC Upstate came to town. It was like a cleansing rain storm. Brian Mills seemed to be possessed by the Greek storm god Poseidon, raining down thirty points on the Spartans’ heads. It’s difficult to say whether we beat Upstate because (a) they suck, (b) “B Mills” was possessed by the aforementioned Greek storm god, (c) the managers all drank Yoo-Hoos right before the game (mine was warm and disgusting) or (d) I purposely mismatched my pants and blazer. I’m pretty sure it was (b), because we have already lost to some not-so-good teams this year, we tried the Yoo-Hoos for our next game and it didn’t work, I am extremely unlucky, and I’d like to believe Mills was possessed by the Greek storm god as we played a team whose mascot was the Spartans because I’m a glutton for irony. Regardless, the feeling was relief when the final buzzer sounded. Finally something that made sense: we played well and won. 

Just when things seemed to be gaining some order and I was beginning to think there might be a gracious all-knowing creator directing the Bears’ season, the Campbell road trip happened and things got weirder than a First Friday at the Synergy night club. It began with our bus driver, Charlie, telling everyone over the bus microphone that we were not allowed to have “colored” drinks on the bus. I took a sip of my Coke as I turned to the players behind me with a look on my face that said, “Who the heck says ‘colored drink?’” Luckily, Bus Driver Charles was just a lot of talk and didn’t even try to make us give up our drinks.

The actual game at Campbell was horrible for about 33 minutes. We were down by fifteen points for almost the entire game. Somehow, through a slew of substitutions, presses, steals, an inordinate amount of swear words said under my breath and two free throws with .1 second left on the clock by Mills, we tied the game and went into overtime. Unfortunately, that whorish “Winning” was just jerking us around again and we lost in OT. After getting punched in the gut, we had to spend an extra night in North Carolina because a snowstorm had hit and Bus Driver Charles didn’t think it was safe to drive. From what I could tell the next morning, North Carolina had been hammered by a devastating half-inch of sleet and snow during the night. Needless to say, we made it back to Macon later that day, and Bus Driver Charles will not be used again by the Mercer men’s basketball team.

Our next trip was to Stetson, and nothing about it made any sense whatsoever. I feel like I’m entering the Twilight Zone every time I walk into their gym, which I believe has actually been around longer than the Stetson hat. We played terribly—we let a 6’2” power forward score all over us, a man with only one eye out hustle us, and let a center with boobs that would make Pam Anderson blush get every rebound. We lost by seven points to a bad team. The world does not make much sense.

We continued our Florida road trip two days later at Florida Gulf Coast University. FGCU is like the Kenny Powers of the A-Sun—a lot of talk and good looks, but no real results. We desperately needed that road victory. It was one of the hardest played games I’ve seen all year and it was also the worst played game I’ve seen all year. We shot 30 percent from the field for the game, while FGCU shot a scorching 34 percent but had twenty turnovers. As time wound down I thought it would be proper for the game to end in a tie, or possibly both teams could just take a loss. But no, something even more outlandish took place. We were down by two points with 11 seconds left, when Jeff Smith barreled down the lane with the ball, jumped in the air and hung for what seemed like five seconds,  looking for an open man. Jeff found Justin Cecil in the deep corner; Cecil, who was in the game only because Mark Hall had missed all seven of his shot attempts, caught the ball and didn’t even hesitate as he launched it toward the basket. I sat in my chair, leaning back with my arms crossed, and watched in amazement as the ball ripped through the net. A 14 percent three-point shooter had just won the game for us. 

I couldn’t even move from my seat for the shock. Coach Hoffman let out a “Praise the Lord!!” The players were all jumping up and down, ecstatic that something had actually gone our way. I could only sit there shaking my head with an ironic half-grin on my face. Everything I thought I knew about college basketball was wrong. There is no way that anyone (other than Justin Cecil and his mom) could have predicted that outcome. So while everyone else was jumping around acting like a bunch of crazies, I just sat there with these thoughts running repeatedly through my head: “Preparation is useless, the whole world is chaos, God does not care about basketball, and I’m wearing this same pair of underwear until we lose again.”

Big victories, big injuries for men’s basketball

Jeff Smith, Brandon Moore lost to injuries

By:
Published Feb 9, in Sports

 

 

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Brian Mills aims to score against Campbell, a game in which his 20 points helped the Bears score a big win.

 

Don’t look now, but the Mercer men’s basketball team is slowly moving up the conference standings. Earlier in January, they were in danger of dropping out of the top eight in the conference standings and thus missing the postseason General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Basketball Championship hosted here in Macon. But with a string of current wins, Mercer continues to move forward in their quest for a conference championship.

Setbacks, though—specifically injuries—have plagued the Bears in recent days as senior guard Jeff Smith was lost for the season after a win against Jacksonville and senior power forward Brandon Moore went down to a season-ending injury in a loss to ETSU. The coming weeks will be telling of the Bears’ resiliency this spring as they enter the final month of regular season play.

Mercer 78, Kennesaw State 70

The Bears simply caught fire in the second half in order to run away from the Owls in a boisterous game in KSU’s Convocation Center. Brandon Moore’s career-high 22 points joined with Brian Mills’ 21 points were indicative of Mercer’s strong post game for the night as they also out-rebounded the Owls 36-29. Justin Cecil would do some damage from beyond the perimeter as well, netting 13 points off of a 3-for-5 shooting performance from the three-point line.

“At the end, we were the only ones left in the gym,” said head coach Bob Hoffman as a sizable crowd of Mercer supporters, cheerleaders and pep band traveled 100 miles north to the rivalry game. “Our guys fed off of that. Thanks to the cheerleaders and the pep band for taking their Tuesday night off to make the trip up here and help us get a victory,” he added.

Mercer 65, USC-Upstate 53

Heard of Bud Thomas? The freshman with the curly locks led Mercer’s second-half charge against a pesky Spartans team to the win in the Hodge Center as the Bears would win their second contest in a row. Thomas would score 11 points in the second half to help Mercer make up a 13-point difference from the first half en route to another important victory.

In a game in which they were sorely outrebounded, Mercer made up the difference by shooting close to 40 percent from the field for the game. Brandon Moore would collect another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Brian Mills would net 15 on the night. Bud Thomas would finish with 13 points and guard Langston Hall would finish with 10 points.

ETSU 82, Mercer 75

Misfortune would again rear its ugly head on the Bears as leading rebounder and second leading scorer Brandon Moore would exit the game three minutes into the game with a knee injury. Despite a Bears’ rally coming from Justin Cecil (23 points, 5-8 3pt FG), Mercer would fall just short of the second place Bucs.

Foul trouble late in the game would prohibit the Bears from making a last minute run, but a valiant effort from Mercer kept ETSU in check until the final buzzer. ETSU’s Mike Smith, a key player in last year’s championship run, led all scorers with 28 points.

Mercer 63, Campbell 45

A large crowd of 2,671 in the University Center saw Mercer dominate the Camels in a must-win game for the Bears.  With the 18 point victory, Mercer moves up to 6th in the A-Sun standings and improved their overall record to 9-15 (6-7 ASun).  Bud Thomas continued to impress the crowd as a guard in the starting lineup, registering his first double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Brian Mills would lead all scorers with 20 points along with a 10 point effort from Mark Hall.

This was a huge game for this team for this season,” said Hoffman afterwards.  “There’s a lot more to happen, but we played like this was our conference championship and we had to have it,” he added.