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| Clay Mounce sees early playing time for Furman, as the Paladins dominate VMI in the SoCon opener. |
The SoCon currently ranks 17th in the overall RPI rankings for the 33 conferences in NCAA Division I college basketball, meaning it was another good year for the league as whole.
Pre-season Rankings and Expectations
Coming into the 2017-18 season in the Southern Conference, the three usual suspects were projected to be favorites. East Tennessee State, Furman and UNC Greensboro all found themselves inside the top four of both the coaches and media the preseason rankings coming into the campaign.
There was at least one mild surprise atop the coaches poll, with Mercer being selected to win the regular-season crown, while Furman was the media's pick to win the regular-season crown. Samford was predicted to finish second in both the media and coaches polls after winning 20 games and garnering a first-round CIT win in 2016-17, and returning all five starters. ETSU and UNCG were selected fourth and fifth, respectively, in the coaches poll, while the media tabbed UNCG and ETSU third and fourth, respectively. Listed below are the two entire polls heading into the 2017-18 season, as well as the preseason all-conference team and player of the year.
2017-18 Preseason Southern Conference Media Poll
Team (1st-place votes) Total
1. Furman (8) 197
2. Samford (4) 184
3. UNCG (4) 183
4. ETSU (4) 178
5. Wofford (2) 165
6. Mercer (2) 154
7. Chattanooga 97
8. The Citadel 70
9. Western Carolina 66
10. VMI 26
2017-18 Preseason Southern Conference Coaches Poll
Team (1st-place votes) Total
1. Mercer (4) 71
2. Samford (3) 70
3. Furman (1) 65
4. ETSU (2) 64
5. UNCG 52
6. Wofford 43
7. The Citadel 27
Chattanooga 27
9. Western Carolina 22
10. VMI 9
2017-18 Preseason Player of the Year
Devin Sibley, Sr., G, Furman
2017-18 Preseason All-Southern Conference Team
Preston Parks, So., G, The Citadel
Desonta Bradford, Sr., G, ETSU
Daniel Fowler, Sr., G, Furman
Devin Sibley, Sr., G, Furman
Ria’n Holland, Sr., G, Mercer
Francis Alonso, Jr., G, UNCG
Demetrius Denzel-Dyson, Sr., F, Samford
Wyatt Walker, Jr., C, Samford
Cameron Jackson, Jr., F, Wofford
Fletcher Magee, Jr., G, Wofford
Conference Play Highlights:
A couple of games helped further define the pictture for the proceedings in conference play, with Wofford and UNCG dueling in quite a game at the Greensboro Coliseum in late December, while Furman and ETSU did battle at Timmons Arena in early January.
In the game between the Spartans and Terriers, it was performances by two outstanding, first-team all-conference guards that summed up the night in both halves.
In the opening half of the game, Wofford's Fletcher Magee would seemingly be in control, with one scoring big in the first half, while the other saved his scoring efforts for the second.
It was Fletcher Magee who got the job done for the Terrers in the opening half of play, as he scored 21 first-half points and the Terriers shot it at a 60.7% clip from the field, taking a 47-33 lead into the halftime locker room after finishing the half on a 19-4 run.
However, Magee did not score in the second half, and the Terriers were held to just 27.7% shooting from the field in the second stanza, as UNCG overcame the 14-point halftime deficit to get a 71-67 win at Greensboro Coliseum, winning a crucial SoCon opener. While the first half belonged to Wofford's Magee, the second would belong to UNCG's talented Spanish guard Francis Alonso, who scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, as the Spartans out-scored the Terriers, 38-20, in the second half alone.
That win would help catapult UNCG onwards towards an eventual regular-season and tournament title.However, 12 days later and after a 2-0 start in Southern Conference play, the Spartans traveled to East Tennessee State where they would suffer one of their three regular-season losses to the Bucs.
In a battle between the league's two best defensive teams, it would be ETSU that would come away with the 68-58 win. It was a rematch of the 2017 Southern Conference Tournament title game, which also saw the Bucs prevail by a 79-74 score.
The Bucs trailed by five points with 16 minutes left in the contest, but turned up the pressure on the defensive end of the floor from that point, and urged on by a raucous crowd of 5,038 fans inside of Freedom Hall, the Bucs were able to out-score the Spartans 33-19 the rest of the way and pick up an important 10-point home win.
ETSU would be led in the contest by Texas Southern transfer Jalan McCloud, who posted 15 points, while Belgrade, Serbia native Mladen Armus would enjoy a coming out party of sorts, posting 13 points and six boards off the bench, as he proved to be a big asset off the bench for the Bucs.
Furman, meanwhile, got off to a 4-0 start in Southern Conference play, with wins over VMI, The Citadel, Mercer and Chattanooga to post its best start in league play since 1986-87. Furman's closest call off those opening four league games came on Jan. 6 against Mercer, as the Paladins had to come from behind to garner a 74-71 win.
Furman closed the game on a 24-12 run, with Daniel Fowler scoring 11 of his team-high 21 points during the stretch, to earn a 74-71 win over the Bears.
Trailing 59-50 with 8:43 remaining, the Paladins embarked on an 11-0 run to take control of the game, starting with a Matt Rafferty layup to cut the Mercer lead to seven. Following a Stephon Jelks turnover the next time down the floor, Rafferty was fouled and calmly went to the stripe to hit two foul shots and cut the Bears’ lead to 59-54 with just under eight minutes remaining.
Furman senior point guard John Davis III recorded one of Furman’s 10 steals on Mercer’s ensuing possession, which led to a Devin Sibley layup.Demetre Rivers missed a layup for the Bears on the next possession, and Fowler hit a three shortly thereafter to tie the game with 6:18 remaining. He hit a pair of free throws less than a minute later to put the Paladins ahead.
Wofford's new Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium is immaculate Furman then made its first trip to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium for another huge Southern Conference clash.
It would be a big matchup for the two Upstate rivals, with Wofford coming into the contest with a matchup between one Upstate team that was off to a 4-0 start in league play, while the other was out to a 2-1 start.
The unblemished Paladins would tsste the first of their SoCon defeats in Spartanburg, as the Terriers, dropping a 79-70 decision.
Furman held a 62-57 lead following a layup by Matt Rafferty with 7:48 remaining. The Terriers would would score 14 unanswered points to take a 71-62 lead following a Fletcher Magee layup. It marked the 13th win in the past 15 meetings with Furman for the Terriers, including the seventh-straight win over the Paladins in Spartanburg.
Devin Sibley answered with a three for Furman to briefly stop the bleeding and cut the Furman deficit to six points, at 71-65, however, the Terriers came back down the floor and knocked down a three-pointer courtesy of sophomore guard Nathan Hoover to extend the Wofford lead back to nine, 74-65, with 2:51 to play.
The see-saw affair continued, as the Paladins came down the floor and answered with another three, with Andrew Brown knocking down a long-range shot, to take the Paladin deficit back to six, at 74-68, with 2:30 remaining in the contest.
After Furman forced a Wofford turnover, the Paladins would get within four win senior guard Daniel Fowler drove to the basket and was fouled. He went to the line for a pair of free throws, converting both charity shots to make it a 74-70 Paladin deficit with 1:50 remaining.
Wofford would score the final five points of the game, however, all of which came off free throws, as the Terriers converted 5-of-6 from the line down the stretch to preserve the win.
The Paladins would then have to around the following Thursday and host red-hot East Tennessee State at Timmons Arena. The Bucs came to Greenville sporting an eight-game winning streak and sat atop the Southern Conference standings with a 5-0 league mark. What would ensue would be one of the top league games of the 2018 Southern Conference season.
Furman found itself down by as many as 12 points (41-29) with 17:47 to play in the game, however, the Paladins would chip away at the ETSU lead the rest of the way. Furman took its first lead since holding a 22-21 lead in the first half, when Daniel Fowler's jumper gave the Paladins a 57-56 lead with 4:56 remaining.
From that point, the game was as advertised between the two SoCon heavyweights, with both teams making big plays and big shots down the stretch. A pair of Jalan McCloud free throws helped the Bucs regain the lead, at 58-57, with 4:40 left, and after both teams went scoreless over the next 1:45 of game action, Furman junior forward Matt Rafferty knocked down a jumper in the lane to help the Paladins regain a one-point, 59-58, lead with 2:55 left.
Following a turnover by Fowler, ETSU's Bo Hodges took a pass from David Burrell and converted a layup, giving the Bucs a 60-59 lead with just over a minute left.
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| Devin Sibley goes up for a layup against ETSU |
ETSU would turn the ball over and then Rafferty picked up a foul on the Paladins' next possession, but Hodges followed on ETSU's possession missing a three-pointer.
Rafferty rebounded the basketball, and his long outlet pass to Andrew Brown was good enough for Brown to convert a layup on the run-out following a goal-tending call against ETSU, giving the Paladins a 61-60 lead with 20 seconds remaining.
That would set the stage for ETSU star guard Desonta Bradford, and following an ETSU timeout, the Bucs put the ball in the hands of their do-everything guard, and the Humboldt, TN., native didn't disappoint, as his floating one-handed jump-shot in the lane hit nothing but net with 4.5 seconds left to help ETSU regain the lead, at 62-61.
Instead of taking a timeout, the Paladins in-bounded the ball quickly and got the ball down the floor on the left wing to Fowler, however, his desperation three-pointer was off the mark as the buzzer sounded, allowing ETSU to pick up its first win in Greenville against Furman on the college basketball hardwood since 2004.
Leading the way for the Bucs in the contest were Bradford and McCloud in the defensive battle, as the backcourt duo scored 12 points apiece. In addition to his game-winning shot, Bradford added two blocks, two assists and a pair of rebounds in the win.
Furman, which saw leading scorer Devin Sibley leave the game midway through the second half with a dislocated finger, were led by four in double figures, with Matt Rafferty leading the way with 13 points, eight boards, two assists, two steals and a block. Daniel Fowler added 12 points and eight boards, while guards John Davis III and Sibley contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Chattanooga, who struggled out of the gates in SoCon play, would travel to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium two nights later to meet Wofford, and gave the Terriers all they wanted before dropping a a narrow 71-67 decision to Wofford.
The Terriers were able to pick up their sixth-straight win behind the strong play of Fletcher Magee and Nathan Hoover, who posted 26 and 16 points, respectively, to help Wofford overcome a big night from Chattanooga's Makinde London, who finished with 20 points.
While Wofford polished off its sixth-straight win, the Mocs struggles continued, as first-year head coach Lamont Paris' club suffered their eighth-straight loss, including their seventh-straight SoCon loss to open SoCon play. For the tradition-rich Mocs, it was one of their worst starts to a league season since joining the conference in 1977-78.
One of the best games of the opening month and for the Southern Conference season for that matter, was the first meeting between Chattanoonga and UNC Greensboro in the Scenic City.
The Mocs and Spartans would play a double-overtime classic, with the Mocs coming up with an 87-85 double-overtime win at McKenzie Arena, picking up its second SoCon season and scoring one of the bigger upsets of the SoCon regular-season.
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| Chattanooga producesd one of the upsets of conference play with its double-overtime win over UNCG |
Mocs forward/center Joshua Phillips did, in fact, post his first-career double-double, as he came off the bench to post 10 points and 12 boards, while the Spartans placed three in double figures with Francis Alonso finishing with a team-high 20 points and athletic freshman guard came off the bench to chip in 17 points for the UNCG. Kyrin Galloway also added 14 points off the pine for the Spartans.
The Mocs had to claw their way back from an 11-point deficit in the second half to make things interesting. Chattanooga trailed 49-38 with 14:51 remaining in the contest, however, used a 24-7 run over the next 13 minutes and change to take a six-point, 62-56, lead with 1:39 left following a pair of Chatman free throws.
The Spartans, however, scored seven on the next eight points in regulation, as the game entered its first of two extra sessions tied, 63-63. It looked as though the Spartans might win their eighth out of nine conference games, as the Spartans took a, 75-68, lead with after a pair of Demetrius Troy foul shots made it a 75-68 game with just 34 seconds left.
However, Dixon quickly converted a layup with 26 ticks remaining on the clock to cut the Mocs' deficit to five (75-70). The Mocs quickly fouled Marvin Smith immediately thereafter, and he went to the line missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and after Chatman got the board, he was fouled with 18 seconds remaining. He made both foul shots to cut the Mocs deficit to three (75-72).
The ball was then inbounded to UNCG's Alonso, who was quickly double-teamed, and Chatman stole the basketball and he launched a long-range effort that banked in off the window, and was fouled to tie the game, 75-75.It remained that way after he missed the opportunity for the four-point play and one-point lead for the Mocs by missing the foul shot, sending the game into a second overtime.
Following the buzzer-beating effort that sent the game to the extra session by Chatman, neither team could gain much separation from the other, and the game tied, 85-85, would be tied by Miller's jumper with 50 seconds remaining, setting the stage for the dramatic finish in second conference win for the Mocs. Chattanooga turned the ball over on its next possession, but UNCG's Garrett Collins missed a three, and the Mocs forward Makinde London got the board and passed the ball to Chatman.
Chatman then drove to the hole and was fouled by Alonso, who was called for a blocking foul after attempting to take a charge. Alonso became the fourth of five starters for the Spartans to foul out of the contest, but more importantly for Chattanooga, Chatman stepped to the line with 4.3 seconds remaining and stroked home both foul shots to give the Mocs the 87-85 lead. The Spartans got a chance to tie, but Miller's shot in the lane was off the mark, bouncing out as time expired, and the Mocs held on for the dramatic two-point win in what was a classic Southern Conference contest.
One of the keys to the win for the Mocs was their performance from the line, sinking 25-of-30 charity shots (83.3%), while the Spartans shot a season-worst 23.7% (9-for-38) from three-point range after sinking 16-of-21 from long-range in a road win over Samford just 48 hours earlier.
ETSU would close out the month of January unbeaten in league play, however, the close to the month wouldn't come easy for Steve Forbes' Bucs, who had to travel to the Low Country of South Carolina to face Duggar Baucom's upstart Citadel team to close the month. The Bucs would escape with a 73-71 win from McAlister Field House, however, Baucom's club would gain a measure of confidence from the home loss, which would prove to serve them well in the final month of league play.
The win by the Bucs would allow them to finish out the first month of 2018 and first month of Southern Conference play with a perfect 9-0 mark. ETSU entered February with an unbeaten streak of 13-straight games, but things would certainly get tougher from here for Forbes' club, as the Bucs fought to make history by eclipsing the 2003-04 team for consecutive wins with the mark to reach being 17-straight wins.
The Bucs would tie that 2003-04 club, which featured the likes of Travis Strong, Zakee Wadood, Jerald Fields and Tim Smith, by knocking off Samford (96-76), Chattanooga (81-61) and VMI (70-56) before traveling to face UNCG in a rematch between two of the top teams in the league. With a chance to reach 17-straight, the Bucs came up short, with a 74-56 road loss to the Spartans, and from this point, the dynamic of the league race started to change.
The win by Wes Miller's Spartans seemed to re-charge UNCG, as it looked to chase down the Bucs for the regular-season title and the No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament. Meanwhile, it seemed to have the opposite effect on ETSU.
UNC Greensboro blocked a school-record 14 shots en route to ending the nation's longest winning streak at 16 games, as the Spartans posted a 74-56 win over East Tennessee State in Southern Conference basketball action Monday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Spartans put on another defensive exhibition, as the nation's eighth-ranked scoring defense held the Bucs to a season lows for points (56), field goal percentage (30.3%), while also blocking a school-record 14 shots. Sophomore center James Dickey came into the game as the SoCon's leading shot blocker with 46 on the season, and on Monday night, he showed why, blocking a single-game school-record with eight blocks in the win.
Dickey's eight blocks against the Spartans surpassed the previous record of seven swats set by former Southern Conference and Spartan great Kyle Hines. Hines blocked seven shots in a game five times in his standout career, which spanned from 2004-08. In addition to his eight blocks, Dickey also added eight points and seven rebounds to his overall stat line.
The Spartans had three players finish with double-figure scoring efforts, with Francis Alonso leading the way with 20 points . Alonso finished the night connecting on 6-of-13 shots from the field, including 3-for-7 from three-point land and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. In addition to his point production, Alonso also posted two steals, two rebounds and an assist in the win.
The Spartans looked like they might break the game wide open in the opening half of play, using a 10-2 run to race out to a 23-11 lead after an Alonso layup with 10:33 remaining in the opening frame. However, the Bucs would eventually close to within two by the halftime break, at 33-31, after Jalan McCloud connected on a three as time expired in the half, as the Bucs closed the half on a 20-8 run to close the gap.
In the second half, the Spartans didn't let that momentum established by the Bucs on the McCloud triple, as UNCG would stretch its lead back to seven following a 7-2 spurt to open up a 40-33 lead following an Alonso triple and a Kuiper layup off the glass with 17:38 remaining in the game.
After ETSU narrowed the UNCG lead to five, at 44-39, following a Devontavius Payne triple with 9:53 to play. However, the Spartans would score the next nine points of the game to open up a 14-point lead (53-39) after a Kuiper triple with 11:14 left. Over the final 11 minutes, the Spartans' lead would never dip below double digits, and the Spartans would extend their lead to as much as 20 points on a triple from Marvin Smith triple with 1:04 remaining, giving UNCG its largest lead of the game, at 74-54.
That Smith triple completed a 17-8 run down the stretch to put the game out of reach. ETSU's Desonta Bradford capped the game with two of his game-high 21 points on an angry, emphatic dunk to set the final margin. The win closed the gap in the Southern Conference standings to just 1.5 games between the two.
UNCG's strong start to the final month of the season, in which the Spartans would catch, and eventually overtake the Bucs for the regular-season title, didn't start with the win over the Bucs. In fact, five days prior to the home win over ETSU, the Spartans had traveled to another league juggernaut--Furman--and were able to come up with an 80-67 win to start their momentum towards regular-season and tournament titles.
The Spartans scored an 80-67 win over the Paladins on Feb. 7. The Paladins struggled to muster any offense the entire evening, but managed to shoot 50% from the field., however. allowed the Spartans to shoot 53.6% from the field in the contest. The Spartans jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led wire-to-wire en route to get to the win.
Marvin Smith, Jr. led five UNC Greensboro players in double figures, scoring a game-high 18 points, as the Spartans completed the season sweep over Furman, with an 80-67 Southern Conference win at Timmons Arena.
In the opening half of play, the Spartans got off to a fast start, running out to a quick 8-0 lead in the game and would eventually stretch that lead to as much as 14, at 21-7, with 12:08 left in the half following a Jordy Kuiper triple.
Furman, however, would storm back, mounting a 22-10 run to cut the Spartans' lead to 31-29 following a Matt Rafferty layup with 3:23 remaining in the half. UNCG would eventually end the half with a 36-31 lead following a banked in three from Kyrin Galloway and a layup from Francis Alonso. Furman's last two points of the half came from John Davis III layup, which was sandwiched in-between the Galloway triple and Alonso layup.
Just like the opening minutes of the game, UNCG started the second half fast, opening the second frame with a quick 5-0 run to quickly take the Spartan lead back to double-digits, at 41-31, following a Smith jumper with 17:59 remaining in the game, prompting Furman head coach Bob Richey to take a timeout.
Following the timeout, Furman mounted 9-2 run following the timeout to cut the Spartans' lead to three, at 43-40, after a Davis layup with 15:38 remaining. However, it would turn out to be as close as the Paladins would get the rest of the game, as the Spartans would stretch the lead back to double digits following a Demetrius Troy triple with 8:14 remaining, as it completed a mini 17-9 run following a UNCG timeout, making it a 60-49 Spartan lead.
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| The Citadel got wins over Furman, Wofford and at ETSU in the final month of the regular-season |
After Furman dropped the early Februaury contest to UNCG, the Paladins would finish out the month going unblemished, winning their final six games of the month.
Along with UNCG, the story of the final month of the season were both Mercer and The Citadel.
The Bulldogs were simply sensational in the final month of the Southern Conference regular-season.
Following a heartbreaking loss to end the month of January to East Tennessee State, the Bulldogs started the month with a bang by scoring wins over the two Upstate members of the Southern Conference, in Wofford and Furman.
The Bulldogs started the month of February by knocking off Wofford, 80-78, at McAlister Field House in what was arguably their best win of the season to that point.
There was no time to celebrate, as 48 hours later Furman paid a visit to McAlister Field House well aware of just how well Duggar Baucom's club had been playing.The Citadel ended the game on an 30-13 run to force overtime, and out-scored Furman, 12-4, in the extra session to capture a 100-92 Southern Conference win Saturday afternoon at McAlister Field House.
The win by the Bulldogs, like the one had been against Wofford, proved to be yet another building block for Baucom's program.
The win for The Citadel had been especially rewarding considering the turmoil the Bulldogs had to deal with earlier in the season, with their best scorer and 2017 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, Preston Parks, deciding to leave the team and transfer out in mid-December.
Furman took a its largest lead of the afternoon, at 75-58, following a Devin Sibley three-pointer with 9:13 remaining in the game, and it looked as though the Paladins were going to coast to a second-straight road win and third-consecutive triumph, however, this is where things would get interesting inside the rowdy, and it started with a Harris triple to cut Furman’s lead to 16. Harris’ three would ignite what would be a wild finish to regulation.
Harris’ triple would commence a string of six-straight possessions in which the Bulldogs would post points, which included three triples during a stretch that saw the Bulldogs out-score the Paladins 14-2, cutting the Paladins’ lead to just five, at 77-72, following a Frankie Johnson layup with 5:17 remaining.
Furman would momentarily stop the bleeding when Geoff Beans canned a triple from the right wing, giving the Paladins an 80-72 lead with 4:15 remaining and then a Matt Rafferty layup two minutes later to extend Furman’s lead back to double-digits.
Following a missed layup by John Davis III with just under two minutes left, the Bulldogs responded with a Harris layup to cut the Paladins’ lead to eight. On the ensuing inbounds pass the ball would eventually reached Sibley, and he was immediately fouled. The senior from Knoxville, Tenn., missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and the ball was rebounded by The Citadel’s Frierson, and Harris converted a layup and was fouled by Lyons on the other end with 1:13 remaining, and Harris converted the three-point play the old-fashioned way, cutting the Furman lead to five, at 82-77.
Lyons was immediately fouled, and knocked down both foul shots to get Furman back to a three-possession lead, at 84-77, with 1:11 left.The CItadel responded on the ensuing possession with perhaps the biggest shot of the game, which game on a Harris triple from the left wing, bring the Bulldogs to within four with 59 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs once again immediately fouled, and this time, it was one of the Paladins’ top foul shooters, in Daniel Fowler. Fowler converted both shots of the double-bonus situation, extending Furman’s lead back to six, at 86-80, with 53 seconds remaining. But The Citadel would match Furman’s two free throws with another triple, as Nadjawi knocked down a three-pointer, cutting the Furman lead in half, 86-83, as his three hit nothing but net with 42 seconds left.
After Davis was fouled just three seconds later, he converted a pair of foul shots to take Furman’s lead back to five, at 88-83. But the Bulldogs just kept coming, and a triple by Frierson cut Furman’s lead to just two, at 88-86, with just over half a minute remaining.
Sibley, who has been struggling from the charity stripe over the past five games, was intentionally fouled by the Bulldogs. He missed both double-bonus foul shots, keeping the difference at two with 33 seconds remaining. Following timeout by Citadel head coach Duggar Baucom, the Bulldogs would execute a play to Frankie Johnson, and he laid the ball up and in with 4.8 seconds left to tie the basketball game, 88-88.
Following a pair of timeouts by Furman head coach Bob Richey, the Paladins turned the ball over, as Fowler attempted to receive a pass from Davis on the far side of the court, but in doing so, tumbled over the first row of seats as time expired and that guaranteed an extra five minutes of basketball with the game tied, 88-88.
In the extra session, the Bulldogs raced to a quick five-point lead after a Johnson layup and three-straight free throws from Frierson after he was fouled on a three-point attempt. He converted all three foul shots to increase The Citadel’s lead to 93-88 with 2:55 left.
Two more Johnson foul shots extended The Citadel’s lead to seven, 95-88, before Furman finally scored its first points of the extra session nearly three minutes in, when Sibley converted a reverse layup with 2:07 left to make it 95-90. That would as close as the Paladins would get the rest of the way, as the Bulldogs hit five of its final six free throws down the stretch to hold off the Paladins and come up with the eight-point, 100-92, victory.
“Coach (Duggar) Baucom has this team playing really really well and with a lot of confidence and even tonight they didn’t flinch. We were up 17 points with 10 minutes to play and they kept fighting and I thought that they made a bunch of shots late and that’s what they do and that’s who they are,” said Furman head basketball coach Bob Richey.
The Bulldogs would not be finished making noise in the final month of the regular-season, as Mercer had to face its own turmoil--finishing the season without its top scorer, Ria'n Holland, who went out with a wrist injury at the end of January and was not able to return. However, the Bears were able to strong together eight-straight wins down the stretch heading into the Southern Conference Tournament.
The most memorable of those wins was a 77-74 win over eventual Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion UNC Greensboro with just a couple of weeks remaining in the regular-season.
Senior guard Jordan Strawberry continued his strong play late in the season, and scored a season-high 27 points, as he helped Mercer claim its fifth-straight Southern Conference victory, with a, 77-74, win over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena.
Strawberry, a native of Anaheim, CA., finished the afternoon by connecting on 8-of-14 shots from the field, and finished a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe, helping power what was an impressive 24-of-29 (82.8%) from the free throw line in the contest for the Bears. Strawberry also dished out five assists and added three rebounds and a crucial block of UNCG's Isaiah Miller on a dunk attempt to change the complexion of the game for the Bears.
Strawberry was not alone in helping the Bears to the monster Southern Conference win over the Spartans, who would be the second seed in the Southern Conference Tournament if the proceedings in Asheville started tomorrow. Sophomore guard Ross Cummings, who has also stepped up big in the absence of injured leading scorer Ria'n Holland, as he posted 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including 4-for-6 from three-point land and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Mercer trailed 49-40 with a little under 14 minutes left before mounting an impressive comeback to post its most impressive Southern Conference win of the season. A 21-11 run over the next seven minutes saw the Bears take a 61-60 lead following a Cummings triple with 6:26 remaining. The Bears would never trail the rest of the afternoon, and won their first game over the Spartans since 2016, ending a four-game losing streak to the visitors.
The turning point of the game came with 7:17 remaining in the contest, as Miller stole the ball for the Spartans and appeared to be on his way for a highlight-reel slam dunk, however, Strawberry sprinted down the floor and got a clean block on the Miller dunk attempt, and then kept going on the other end to get a layup and a foul to eventually make it a five-point swing. The three-point play the old-fashioned way would get the Bears to within two, at 60-58, and then after a UNCG turnover on its next possession, the Bears would take the lead on a Cummings three, which of course, they would never relinquish.
In the opening half of play, Mercer jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Spartans quickly made it 7-6. It looked as though the Bears might run away with it, using a 15-0 run to take a 25-9 on a Cummings jumper with 8:56 remaining in the opening half. A 21-6 run by the Spartans down the stretch in the opening half of play would eventually cut the Mercer lead to one, at 31-30, at the intermission.
Cummings and Strawberry, who combined for 50 of the Bears' 77 points, were joined in double figures by senior Demetre Rivers, who posted 11 points.
UNCG was led by talented junior All-SoCon guard Francis Alonso, who finished with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, including 4-for-10 from three-point land and was 2-for-2 from the line. James Dickey added 11 points and three blocks, while point guard Demetrius Troy completed the double-double effort, with 10 points and 10 boards in the losing effort.
The Bears would cap the eight-game winning streak with a thrilling, 69-68, win at Wofford to close out the regular-season and garner the No. 4 overall seed for the Southern Conference Tournament. A Jordan Strawberry layup off a backdoor play with four seconds remaining following a Mercer timeout, and subsequent miss by Fletcher Magee on a three-pointer as time expired allowed the Bears to escape Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium with the one-point win and all the momentum entering the Southern Conference Tournament.
Wofford also had a pair of major highlights during the final month of the season, with Fletcher Magee producing a SoCon season-high 45 points in a 74-64 road win over the Mocs. Then, the Terriers went on the road to Johnson City to hand ETSU, a 75-71, setback in the penultimate game for both teams in the SoCon regular-season.
It was part of what was a three-game losing streak to end conference play for the Bucs, beginnning with an 85-82 loss to The Citadel, which would be the pre-cursor to three-straight losses to teams from the Palmetto State by the Bucs and would end up resulting in a regular-season outright Southern Conference title for the UNCG Spartans. The Bucs went on to drop games to Wofford (L, 75-71) and Furman (L, 79-76) on their home floor to close out the regular-season.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of the season recap coming up later this week.
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