MACON, GA. - Mercer withstood a second-half Campbell comeback
attempt and dealt the Camels an 82-73 loss Saturday at the
University Center.
The Bears (7-8, 3-2 A-Sun) led by 18 with just over 18 minutes left
before the Camels rallied to take a 65-64 lead with 5:52
remaining. However, CU (8-5, 3-1) went 5:50 without a field goal
and suffered its first league loss of the season.
Mercer, which won its third-straight game, hit 27 of 31 foul shots
(87 percent) on the night, while the Camels made only 13 of 23 (57
percent) from the stripe. The Bears finished the game shooting 55
percent from the floor after hitting 64 percent in the opening
half.
Daniel Emerson led five Mercer players in double figures with 19
points, including an off-balance 3-pointer at the end of the shot
clock with 49.7 seconds left to push the Mercer edge to 77-69.
Jeff Smith added 15, including 3-of-4 from long range. Brian Mills
scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds, James Florence had 12
plus 7 assists, and E.J. Kusnyer had 10.
Jonathan Rodriguez led the Camels with 24 points, 10 rebounds, five
assists and four steals. Miles Taylor had a season-best 15 points
on 6 of 9 from the field. Kyle Vejraska and Lorne Merthie chipped
in 9 apiece for Campbell, which shot just 41 percent from the floor
and saw its two-game win streak halted.
Campbell trailed 53-35 after Kusnyer's 3-pointer with 18:09
remaining. However, the Camels outscored the Bears 30-9 over the
next 12:17 and took the lead (65-64) on Taylor's backdoor cut with
5:52 to go. After Preston Dodson's foul shot tied the score at 66
with 5:23 left, Mercer ended the contest on a 16-7 run.
Mercer outscored Campbell 11-0 in a 3:39 span midway through the
first half. The Bears made 13 of their first 18 shots, including 5
of 9 threes, plus 6 of 7 free throws to build a 37-24 lead with
5:10 remaining.
Campbell trailed by just 26-24 when point guard Junard Hartley went
to the bench with his second personal foul with 8:49 to go, but
went down by as many as 16 when Smith knocked in a triple from the
right corner with 1:29 to play.
The Bears led 46-33 at the break, shooting 64 percent (14-22) from
the field, including 6 of 12 threes, plus 12 of 13 (.923) from the
line. Smith had 10 first-half points, while Emerson added 9.
Rodriguez scored 12 first-half points and Taylor added eight for
the Camels, who hit only 12 of 32 (.375) from the floor in the
stanza.
The game featured two of the top seven scorers in A-Sun history.
Rodriguez moved into seventh place on the league's career list
during the contest and now has 1872 points. He also set the
league's all-time record for free throws made (558), eclipsing the
557 hit by Samford's Joey Davenport from 1992-96. Florence (2059)
ranks second on the league's career scoring list.
The Camels conclude a two-game trip to Georgia on Saturday in a
7:30 p.m. tap at Kennesaw State.
