Kamdyn Curfman at SoCon Semifinals vs Mercer 2
Todd Drexler/SESPORTSMEDIA.com
91
VMI VMI 9-8,2-3 SoCon
97
Winner Mercer Mercer 9-7,2-1 SoCon
VMI VMI
9-8,2-3 SoCon
91
Final
97
Mercer Mercer
9-7,2-1 SoCon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
VMI VMI 34 57 91
Mercer Mercer 52 45 97

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Comeback Bid Falls Short in 97-91 Loss at Mercer

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – Trailing by a 52-34 score at halftime, the VMI basketball team rallied in the second half and came within two points of the Mercer Bears in the final minute but the Bears hung on to outlast the Keydets 97-91 Thursday night at Hawkins Arena in Macon, Georgia.
 
Although Mercer (9-7, 2-1) did not score a field goal in the final 4:55 of the game, the Bears finished 14-of-16 from the charity stripe to close out the game despite VMI's best efforts to knot the score and overcome its 18-point deficit at the break.
 
The Keydets (9-8, 2-3) pulled within 10 points, 70-60, at the 10:00-minute mark of the second half and cut the deficit to 70-63 following an and-1 from sophomore guard Trey Bonham. Bonham followed with a layup to extend a 7-0 VMI run and make the score 70-65 Mercer with nine minutes left.
 
A Jake Stephens trey made the score 72-68 for Mercer and Sean Conway hit a three moments later to make the score 79-72 for Mercer with 6:00 left on the clock. A Conway three with 2:30 to go made the score 85-81 for Mercer and another Conway trey with 0:55 left cut the deficit to 88-84 in favor of the Bears.
 
A Kamdyn Curfman three and Trey Bonham layup eventually cut the deficit to 93-91 with 15 seconds to play, but Mercer continued to knock down its free throws to close out the game and escape with the win.
 
Stephens finished with a career-high 34 points by going 13-for-20 from the field, including six threes - also a career best. Conway ended up with 18 points and went 4-for-6 from three-point land while Bonham also tallied double digits with 16 points.
 
Jalen Johnson earned a team-high 30 points for the Bears while Felipe Haase poured in 28 points to aid Mercer to victory. James Glisson III logged 21 points to round up Mercer's top scorers in the contest.
 
The Keydets return to SoCon action Saturday afternoon to face rival The Citadel at 1 p.m. at McAlister Field House in Charleston, South Carolina.
 
Coach Dan Earl Postgame Quotes:
?"It was a hard one again - unfortunately, it was a little bit of the same script. Poor first half. Obviously, Jalen Johnson hit some shots and was 8 for 8 from 3-point range. We dug ourselves a hole in the first half. We're going to have to figure something out to be fair to one another and to be fair to the program. I love our character, I love our guys, they work hard, but for whatever reason we have not come out in the first half and fire on all cylinders. We will figure things out. I'm confident we will get better.

"There's a lot of positives within our group to have the where with all to keep swinging, to keep fighting, to do a lot of good things, but it's hard to win games when you dig yourself a hole and we can't continue to do that."
 


 
Print Friendly Version