Mercer defeats A&M 65-46

Box Score

NORMAL -- Mercer University gave the men's basketball squad their fifth loss of the year with a 65-46 drumming on Saturday night.

Scoring was the issue for the Bulldogs as only three players scored in double figures, while Mercer (5-5) had far more balanced scoring.

Alabama A&M’s three-man show consisted of Jeremy Crutcher who led the Bulldogs (2-5) with 14 points. Brandon Ellis added 10 and Demarquelle Tabb had a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double for his 11^th of his career and third this season. The remaining Bulldogs contributed only 10 points.

A&M was 3 for 18 from beyond the 3-point arc. Crutcher was 1 for 6 and Ellis 0 for 4. The Bulldogs shot 17 for 48 overall. Mercer made 22 of 52 shots, including 4 of 14 treys. Three of those three’s for Mercer came on back-to-back-to-back to open the game and a seven point lead for the Bears. They extended that lead to 12 to take a 27-15 half-time advantage.

“We gave up six possessions at the beginning of the game that really hurt us,” said head coach Willis Hayes. Offensively our shots are not falling and defensively we’re missing that big man in the middle. If we had that big man in the middle we could capitalize on our ball screen and rolls.”

“We played solid defense tonight but we couldn’t translate that to the offensive side of the ball,” Hayes mentioned.

The lead did not get any smaller and was pushed into double digits in the second half as the 48 shots that the Maroon & White took bounced around the rim with only 17 falling. The free-throw line was not kind to A&M either as they shot an unusual 56 percent for the game.

The Bulldogs shot 52% from the field and 84% from the free-throw line in the second half. Crutcher’s 14 came in the last half of the contest while six of Ellis’s were produced in the second stanza.

“At half-time I saw that fight in them. They were saying let’s keep fighting and we’re still in this which as a head coach you want to here,” stated Hayes.

“In every game we want to get some positive results,” Hayes continued. “Versus Mercer we realized we can guard anybody on any team and not give up which they didn’t. It was a good game but it wasn’t good enough to win.”

Still looking for their first win versus a Division I opponent this season, the Bulldogs will be off another week due to finals then travel to Nashville, Tenn. to face one of three SEC opponents on the schedule. Up first is the Commodores of Vanderbilt University. That contest is set for Saturday, December 15^th at 7 p.m.

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