Â
GAME NOTES
Â
SEASON SERIES (1-1)
At The Citadel (1/24) - Win, 68-66
- AJ Smith's layup with 3:22 left until halftime kept the Bulldogs within five, 26-21, but the Bears closed the half on a 9-0 run to lead 35-21 at the intermission.
- A MER three-point play held the margin at 16, 43-27, four minutes into the second half.
- Quentin Millora-Brown dished to Madison Durr, whose layup cut the deficit to seven, 53-46, at the under-eight timeout.
- The Bears hit a timely three at the 5:40 mark to nudge the lead back to double-digits, 60-49.
- Smith's three trimmed it to six, 62-56, before Durr's bucket and-1 made it a two-point affair, 66-64, with 1:22 to go.
- After a MER miss on the ensuing possession, Smith found Elijah Morgan for a wing 3-pointer to give CIT a 67-66 lead with 42 seconds remaining.
- On the following possession, the Bears had a couple of second chance opportunities go awry as QMB secured the rebound and made 1-of-2 from the line, 68-66 Bulldogs, with :02 seconds left.
- MER advanced the ball with a timeout and got a good look from the near wing, but it missed long off back iron as CIT held on 68-66.
At Mercer (2/21) - Loss, 78-85
- The teams traded buckets down the stretch of the first half as MER held a 41-38 advantage at the break.
- A QMB layup put CIT ahead 42-41 two minutes into the second stanza, but MER answered with a 12-4 run to take a 53-46 lead, forcing a Bulldogs timeout.
- A Bears triple gave them their largest lead of the game to that point at 10, 58-48, at the 11-minute mark.
- Morgan's second long ball of the game helped cut a 14-point deficit back to single digits, 64-55, at the under-eight media timeout.
- Smith's pullup jumper had CIT within eight, 72-64, with four minutes to go but MER quickly pushed the margin back to 12, 76-64, with 2:55 left.
- The Bulldogs battled late to make it a seven-point game, 85-78, with 18.6 remaining but Mercer made its free throws to close out a home win.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
- In last Saturday's regular season finale at Samford, Millora-Brown earned his 15th double-double of the year, setting the school record for dbl-dbls in a season.
- The grad transfer, ranks second in the SoCon in double-doubles and is T-13 nationally.
- Earlier this season, QMB broke the program's single-season mark for defensive rebounds in a season with 172 and currently sits at 190.Â
- With one rebound in Friday's SoCon Tournament first-round game, he will set the program record for total rebounds in a season with 289.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
- For The Citadel, #1 Smith ranks fifth in league play in scoring at 16.6 ppg.
- For Mercer, #5 Jayln McCreary is not far behind in 12th, averaging 15.6 ppg, and was selected to the All-SoCon Second Team on Wednesday.Â
