The men's basketball team faced off against two conference foes this week with a game at the University of North Carolina Greensboro on Wednesday and a home game on Saturday against Furman University. The team finished the week with a 10-11 overall record and are now ranked No. 4 in the Southern Conference with a 3-5 SoCon record.
The game against UNCG was a thrilling, 79-78, win after the Bears fought back from a 23-point deficit to hand UNCG their first loss at home of the season. Mercer guard Ahmad Robinson ‘25 had a career night as he scored 33 points, including the last nine points of the game to lead the team to victory. Robinson, who has been named the SoCon Player of the Week multiple times this season, reached his career-high tally by shooting 10-for-19 from the field and 9-for-11 from the free throw line. He added six assists and five steals to pad his stat line for the night.
The win did not come easy, however. The Spartans, who were 5-1 in the conference coming into the game, came ready to play in the first half. With 12:20 to go in the first half, Mercer led, 17-14. Then, UNCG reeled off 22 unanswered points. Five minutes came off the clock before Alex Holt '25 hit a jump shot in the paint to cut the lead to 17. The teams traded layups for the rest of the half, and they went into halftime with the Spartans ahead, 48-35.
Coming out of halftime, the home team kept an edge over the visiting Bears, but the tides shifted with about six minutes left in the game. Mercer's offense made its move as Marcus Overstreet '27 put in a layup, made a free throw and added a defensive rebound to cut the lead to five points with less than five minutes to go.
With the game down to its final minute, Robinson nailed a 3-point attempt to put the Bears within a point of the lead, 78-77. Robinson's fifth steal of the game with 0:25 left on the clock forced the Spartans to send him to the foul line, and Robinson knocked down both shots. It was the eighth game of the season in which the final score was within three points. In such games, Mercer has gone 4-4.
The Bears' Saturday game against the Paladins ended in a 79-74 loss inside Hawkins Arena, where they were 5-2 going into the game. Robinson led all scorers with 24 points, and added six assists and three steals. He also committed five personal fouls in the game. Holt scored 17 points with seven rebounds, and guard Tyler Johnson '25 recorded 16 points, four rebounds and 2 assists. Holt is tied for third among all SoCon players in rebounds per game, averaging 7.3 a contest.
Both teams got off to a hot start in the game, converting nearly 52 percent of their shots from deep and 52.5 percent from the field in the first half, combined. Overall, though, Furman's bench proved deeper than Mercer's as the Paladin's backups doubled the total points that the Bears' second-team did.
While Mercer pulled the score within one point in the second half, their offense fell off enough to give Furman the edge towards the end. It was the first time that the Bears fell to Furman in the regular seasons since the 2023-24 season as Mercer swept the Paladins last regular season, according to Mercer Athletics.
The team will be back in action for a home game this Wednesday against The Citadel at 7:00 p.m. The Citadel is sitting at the bottom of the conference with a 0-8 in the SoCon and 5-14 on the season.
