Men’s basketball stays strong at home

The men’s basketball team has been struggling away as of late, but is still dominant at home going 4-2 in their last 6 competitions, with the only two losses coming on the road to conference opponents.
The men’s basketball team took on FGCU in their first conference match-up. FGCU knocked the Bears out of the conference tournament last year so the game was surely going to be a competitive one.
It proved to be just that as the Bears were forced to pull out a result in overtime winning 77-70.
Senior guard Travis Smith paced the Bears with 21 points while juniors Langston Hall and Jakob Gollon also scored in the double-figures with 17 and 12 points respectively.
Hall and Gollon combined for six steals, earning three apiece.
The next game saw Bob Hoffman and the Mercer men’s basketball team lose to in-state rival Kennesaw State 83-75.
Kennesaw State, who was 1-13 prior to playing the Bears, was able to utilize an all-out effort to propel themselves past the Bears.
Travis Smith led Mercer once again in points this time scoring 18. Three other players joined Smith in double-figure scoring. Juniors Bud Thomas, Langston Hall and Jakob Gollon scored 13, 12 and 10 points respectively.
Jakob Gollon pulled down seven boards in the losing effort.
After the disappointing loss in Kennesaw, the Bears were able to take the frustration of the previous loss out on North Florida and won 66-47.
Four Bears were in double figures with Travis Smith once again leading the way with 15 points. Bud Thomas, junior Anthony White Jr. and Langston Hall scored 14, 12 and 10 points respectively.
Jakob Gollon pulled down eight boards in the win and Travis Smith gave out four assists.
The Bears saw themselves struggle once again on the road traveling to Jacksonville. Mercer lost narrowly 49-47 in one of their lowest scoring games of the year.
Langston Hall led the Mercer Bears with 11 points while Anthony White Jr. was not far behind with nine of his own.
Jakob Gollon pulled down seven rebounds in the loss.
The Bears then took to their home court for a pair of games with the first being a 78-59 win against ETSU.
Travis Smith proved to be a dominant scorer once again, putting away 18 points against the Bucs. Three other players also found themselves in double-figures. Junior Daniel Coursey was not far behind Smith scoring 17 points of his own. Langston Hall and Bud Thomas scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Langston Hall collected nine rebounds in the win and Daniel Coursey amassed three blocks in the win.
Next up for the Bears was USC Upstate. After an extremely close contest, the Bears were able to pull out an 84-72 win against the Spartans.
Travis Smith, once again, led the Bears on the court with an impressive 24 points. Bud Thomas and Jakob Gollon scored 12 points each.
Thomas and Gollon also led the team in rebounds with 5 apiece.
Thomas was also credited with two blocks in the win.
Head coach Bob Hoffman and the Bears will travel to Northern Kentucky to take on the Norse on Thursday Jan. 24. Game time is set for 7 p.m.