The men’s basketball team is now on a five game losing streak after losing two Southern Conference games this past week, one to Furman University and another to the Virginia Military Institute. The team is now 11-16 on the season and 4-10 in the SoCon. The Bears sit at No. 8 in conference standings, just above Western Carolina University and The Citadel.
With just four games left in the regular season until the Southern Conference Tournament, the Bears are going to have to dig deep if they want to advance past the opening round of the tournament.
When the Bears hosted Furman earlier this season, Mercer won 79-74, but the Paladins (19-7, 7-6 SoCon) answered this past Wednesday with a thumping 96-72 win against the Bears. Mercer was led by Ahmad Robinson ‘25, Tyler Johnson '25 and Brady Shoulders ‘28. Robinson scored 17 points with six rebounds and four assists, Johnson put in 16 points and a rebound while Shoulders scored 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
As a team, the Bears shot 58 percent from the free-throw line, 39 percent from three-point range and had 35 rebounds. Mercer's big men played strong offense under the rim as the team recorded 32 points in paint and 19 second-chance points.
The Bears lost to the Keydets at home this past Saturday, 80-71. It was Mercer's first loss to VMI since February 2022, and their first home loss to the Keydets since January 2008.
While Mercer kept it close in the first half - they were down by just two points at halftime - the visitors shot 18-for-20 from the free throw line in the second half to keep the Bears at bay.
The scoring leaders for Mercer included Johnson, Jah Nze ‘26 and Cam Bryant '25. Johnson scored 19 points with three rebounds and one assist, Nze scored 10 points, grabbed four boards and dished three assists off the bench and Bryant scored nine points with two rebounds and two assists.
The Bears next game will be in Charleston, S.C., against The Citadel. The Bulldogs are 5-20 this season, winless in the conference and have not added to their win column since Dec. 3, 2024. The Bears will have to break their own losing streak and continue the dominant performance they put on the first time the two teams met.
