Furman 64, Mercer 62
MACON, GA.—Senior guard Jordan Lyons scored 25 points to lead Furman to its opening SoCon win on the road, with a 64-62 win over Mercer Friday night at Hawkins Arena.
With its ninth-straight win over the Bears, Furman improved to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in Southern Conference play, while Mercer fell to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in Southern Conference play. It was Furman’s 10th win over Mercer in the last 11 meetings.
With the game tied 62-62, Lyons layup off the left side of the glass gave Furman the two-point lead with 17 seconds remaining. On Mercer’s final possession of the night, Lyons tipped the inbounds pass away, allowing time to expire and Furman to collect its first Southern Conference win of the season.
Lyons has now scored 74 points against Mercer in the past three meetings with the Bears, and improved to 8-0 against Mercer as a player in his career.
The Paladins trailed 55-51 with 5:30 remaining in the contest, however, used a 9-0 run to take a 60-55 lead with 2:45 remaining following a layup by redshirt junior forward Clay Mounce.
Leading 62-57 with 2:01 left, Mercer would score the next five points on a pair of free throws by Djordje Dimitrijevic and a three-pointer by Jeff Gary with 1:13 remaining to knot the score, 62-62.
Furman took a timeout to set up its final play. Though the Paladins didn’t rebound the ball well all night, on its final possession of the night, Furman got two crucial offensive rebounds from Noah Gurley and Lyons off a missed jumper by Lyons and a missed three-pointer by Alex Hunter.
Lyons rebounded Hunter’s missed three-point attempt with 32 seconds remaining, setting up what proved to be his game-winning layup with 17 seconds left, as he drove down the lane and layed the ball off the left side of the window to give the Paladins a two-point lead.
On Mercer’s ensuing possession following a Greg Gary timeout, it looked as though the Paladins had held on for the win, as Dimitrijevic’s layup attempt rolled off the front of the rim and was rebounded by Clay Mounce with 1.4 seconds left and Mounce was quickly fouled.
Mercer had not fouled enough to put the Paladins at the charity stripe, so Furman was forced to inbounds the ball under its own basket, however, the ball could not be corralled by Lyons on the inbounds pass, and the Paladins turned the ball over with 0.5 seconds remaining. On the Mercer inbounds pass, Lyons tipped the ball away and time expired, as Furman escaped with its fourth-straight win.
In the opening half of play, both teams led by as many as seven points, however, went to the halftime locker room with the score tied, 30-30, as Mercer out-shot Furman 46.4%-44.4% in the opening half. Both teams hit four triples in the opening half of play.
Furman held advantages in points in the paint (36-24), points off turnovers (21-4) and second chance points (11-0). Mercer posted advantages in bench points (14-10), assists (18-12) and rebounds (32-28). Furman forced 13 turnovers, while committing just nine.
The Paladins finished the night connecting on 43.3% (26-of-60) from the field for the game, including connecting on 32.0% (8-of-25) from three-point range.
The Bears connected on 46.3% (25-of-54) from the field for the night, including shooting 36.4% (8-of-22) from three-point land.
Lyons finished the night connecting on 9-of-18 shots from the field, including going 3-for-8 from three-point land and was 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. The Peachtree City, GA, native also added three rebounds, two steals and an assist to aid the Paladins in getting the road win.
The only other Paladin in double figures was Mounce, who posted his third double-double of the season, with 12 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Mounce connected on 5-of-9 shots from the field, including going 2-for-3 from three-point land. He also added a block and an assist to his overall totals on the night.
Mercer was led by a career-high 19 points from West Virginia transfer center Maciej Bender. He connected on 9-of-16 shots from the field and was 1-for-3 from the charity stripe. Bender added 10 boards to complete the double-double effort, and also added four blocks.
Rounding out the Bears in double figures were Gary and Ross Cummings, who added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Furman returns to action on New Years Day, when it will travel to Cameron Hall for a Southern Conference battle against VMI, with tip-off for that contest slated for 1 p.m. Mercer returns to action on Sunday, hosting Florida Atlantic at Hawkins Arena, with tip-off slated for 6 p.m.
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