Mercer, VMI advance to SoCon quarterfinals

No. 8 Mercer 67, No. 9 Western Carolina 66

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Guard Ahmad Robinson delivered a bounce pass to forward Alex Holt, who scored the winning basket in a 67-66 victory for No. 8 Mercer over No. 9 Western Carolina in the two teams’ first round game of the Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament at Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville on Friday night.

It was fitting those two combined on the play as they combined for 47 points, beating the Catamounts all night from inside and out.

Western Carolina took a 66-65 lead on a pair of free throws by Bernard Pelote with 49.6 seconds remaining.

After Robinson missed a shot, Catamounts forward Marcus Kell was fouled with 27.9 second left. Kell missed the front end of the bonus and the Bears rebounded and eventually called time to set up a play.

As he had most of the night, Robinson drove down the middle and delivered a perfect pass to Holt, who had little trouble scoring the winning points with 4.1 seconds remaining.

Western Carolina had a chance but guard Ice Emery, who scored 17 of his team-high 20 points after intermission, failed to hit the rim on a running one-handed attempt before time expired.

Holt made 9-of-13 field goal attempts, mostly from close range, and added 6-of-7 free throws for a season-high 24 points, one more than Robinson, who had 23.

Robinson made 6-of-19 field-goal attempts but was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. He also had eight assists.

The win moved the Bears into the quarterfinals where they will play top-seeded Chattanooga on Saturday at noon.

Western Carolina missed its first nine three-point attempts but made 3-of-6 for the remainder of the first half to get back into the game.

Mercer had a 23-15 lead with 5:17 left in the half before three-pointers from Ice Emery, Cord Stansberry and Marcus Kell highlighted a 14-5 run that enabled the Catamounts to tie the score 29-29 by halftime.

Mercer made just 1-of-12 from behind the arc and scored 16 of its first-half points in the paint.

Records: Mercer 14-18, Western Carolina 8-22.

STATS TO KNOW

 - Mercer made 21-of-25 free throws compared to Western Carolina which made just 10-of-17.

 - Mercer made 2-of-20 three-point tries but outscored the Catamounts 36-26 in the paint.

 - The game had seven ties and eight lead changes.

******

No. 7 VMI 73, No. 10 The Citadel 62

ASHEVILLE, N.C.-- Hot shooting VMI cruised past The Citadel, 73-62, Friday night in the Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament at Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville on Friday night.

The victory earned VMI a berth in Saturday's quarterfinal round opposite No. 2 UNCG at 2:30 p.m.

VMI made 29 of 49 field-goal attempts for a blistering .592 percent.  On just two-point attempts alone, the Keydets converted 22 of 30 tries for .733 percent.  As for three-point shots they were a respectable 7-of-19 for .368 percent.

In the first half when they took a 36-27 lead, the Keydets made 12-of-15 two-point tries for 80 percent. VMI led by as many as 22 points in the second half before the Bulldogs cut the final deficit to 11.

The Citadel struggled from the floor, finishing .373 overall and just .217 on three-point attempts.

The Citadel was able to remain fairly close in the opening half by scoring 11 of its points off of seven VMI turnovers.

Every starter made at least 50 percent of their field-goal attempts for VMI. Tan Yildizoglu scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. TJ Johnson added 15 points. as he made 6-of-11 field-goal attempts, including 4-of-8 three-pointers. Rickey Bradley (13 points) and AJ Clark (10), also scored in double figures.

Brody Fox scored 15 points to lead The Citadel.

Records: VMI 14-18, The Citadel 5-25

STATS TO KNOW

 - The Citadel scored 17 second-chance points, 10 more than VMI.

 - VMI had 12 steals and blocked five shots. The Citadel had 10 steals and didn't block a shot.

 - Despite its hot shooting from the floor, VMI made 8-of-14 free throws for .571 percent.