Newspaper Page Text
Page 4
Mercer Cluster
February 8. 197!
Tom Robinson
From the
bench
For the first time this season, our Mercer Bears hit over the
century mark while drilling Southern Tech. The outside shooting for
Mercer in that first half was tremendous - and the percentage for the
entire game wasn't bad. either. It wasn t that the Bears were
working their offense that much better than they did during their
current winning streak-it was just that the d ;ense was that much
better. Stolen passes, rebounds were turned into fast breaks with
Eddie Creech. Monnie Brabham, and Bruce Gordy taking the passes
from Billie Smith. Jack Scott, and David Jones .
Also, it was the defense that did a fantastic job orf Little All-
Amenca candidate Curtis Bivins, who was held to just seven points
during the game
In the first half, the Bear defense was burned by 30-foot jump
shots, the same thing which killed them against Florida Southern.
But Southern Tech could not keep up the pressure, outside in the
second half as the Bear guards tightened up.
This Saturday (6th>. the Bears will take on arch-rival Georgia
Southern down in Statesboro This will bejhe rubber garaeof the year
for these two clubs, with Mercer defeating Southern 60-53 to win the
Mercer Invitational Tournament, only to have Southern come right
back and defeat the Bears 79- 71 in the Coliseum last Monday (25).
The game in Statesboro might not be a call for alarm. w* e it not for
the fact that the last game between these two clubs vja real don-
nybrook, .with elbows flying, instead of basketballs. The refs never
really did have control of the game. The Southern coach. J.E. Rowe %
went as far as to promise retaliation when we do play down there. He
said that "I'm glad that none of our students were here, or Hse we
would have had a riot."
For the past week now. both coaches have been trying to play down
the incidents of that game with compliments about each other. But
they aren't the ones who'll have to go out and play. Mercer players
are anxious to get out and avenge the last loss and Southern players
are probably smarting from some of the elbows thrown, and I’m
quite sure some of.their elbows are pretty sore, too. and would like to
get even.
I’m hoping, for more reasons than one. that there won’t be a riot
down in Statesboro this weekend. Maybe this time well get some refs
who 11'control the game a little better.
Speaking of refs, next year we won’t have to put up with the same
nuts every game Southeast Conference refereeshave been signed for
next year's games, which should improve the games a little bit.
The Women's R«*k*thall team lost to Fort Valley Slate down in
Fort Valley last Friday (297, 53-33. Coach Peggy Collins was
disconsolate as she told me that, for one game, the girls were just
frightened to play.
"They beat themselves, and they know it.*It was the first time that
they’ve played under a tag crowd, and they were just scared."
Elaine Williams put in 13 points ' - „ . -i Bears, while Merita
Favors had 12. But the storv game was in the Girls' inability to
get the ball shoot it when they did get it down.
"They just gave the ball up too many times. And after the ball was
stolen, they, moat of the time, just gave up and let them get the easy
lay-up."
'They just didn’t jdl” Miss Collins continued, “they just didn't
move the bail on offense. I think that this loss will do them some
good, however."
Through the year, Coach Collins has been impressed with the
Girls’desire to win. and. even in this game, it was not different.
"They really fought hard in the fourth quarter If they had played
as well in the whole ball game like they did in the last quarter, there
is not doubt, we would have beaten them."
The Girls’ next game is February 12 against Middle Georgia
College, in a game played in Cochran.
xxxx
The recent troubles of transferee-basketball player Rupert
Breedlove, which ultimately found their way to the front page of a
local newspaper's sports section have an effect on all of the students
th* report was that Breedlove was going to be dismissed by Mercer
for a fight which took place in the Pool Room.
'They're false”, said Jerry Stone, Athletic Director here at
Mercer . Breedlove has been punished by the Dean, and is still a
student at Mercer "
The ocher pert of the reports states that this informgtioo was
gathered from student sources. Let’s hot give out any information
that we don’t really know anything about. If the Macon papers go so
far as topiddlsh a rumor about us. then they must really be on our
tads. '
Center Billie Smith (33) gees up for two points against Southern Tech as Jack Scott (53) -set for a
rebound. Photo by Lenny Jordan
N
Bears break century mark
with big win over Hornets
by Tom Robinson
The Southern Tech Green
Hornets ran into a bunch of
angry Mercer Bears, and by the
time the dust settled, the Bears
had broken their 3-game losing
streak via a 103-85 victory.
Mercer was shooting hot the
whole game with guard Bruce
Gordy leading the way with 24
points, being 10 for IS from the
field and 4r4 from the. free
throw line. Center Itfilie Smith
and substitute guard Eddie
Creech had 15 each, as six
Bears hit in double figures.
Smith led the rebounders with
11 caroms.
For Southern Tech, Jerry
Johnson was their high point
man with 33, 21 of which came
in the first If If
The Green Hornets scored
first, with Johnson connecting
on a 30-footer for a 2-0 lead with
19:43 to go in the half.
Southern Tech got to a 4-3
lead, but after Jim Graham, in
place of Leonard Hardin for the
game, sank a 10-footer, the
game was all Mercer.
The Green Hornets stayed
dose, however, untal the Bears
ran off a string of five straight
points, with Smith hitting the
last on a 15-foot^r with 7:09 to
go, which gave Mercer a 39-28
lead.
Tech came back within three,
42-39, after a foul shot by Barry
Parker with 2:39 left.
But the Bears managed to
keep their lead, thanks to three
straight foul shots by Smith,
and a basket with seven seconds
showing on the clock, by
Creech, which gave the Bears a
49-41 half-time lead
Mercer kept its zone press
through the first half, but the
Hornets seemed abl£ to break
it, and were getting a lot of
points on lay-ups by Johnson
and 6-9 cento* Bob Compton .
But, in the later stages of the
half, the Bears started closing
off the inside on the fast break,
and were able -to force Tech
outside if the Hornets woe ever
able to get the ball down court.
In the first half, the Bears hit
on 20 of 28 field goal attempts
for a sizzling 71 .'6 percent, while
holding Tech to 16 of 32, for 50
percent. .
But the real story was the
Bear defense's ability to contain
Little-All-America candidate,
forward Curtis Bivins, who had
averaged 30 points a game
coming into the action. Bivins
had three points in the first half,
while attempting six field goals.
The second half proved to be
just a continuation of the first.
The Green Hornets came to
within five, 60-55 on another lay
up by Johnson, but that was as
close as they would come for the
rest of the night.
The Bears opened up an 11
point edge. 68-57. on a jumper
by Graham with 11:32 to go in
the game. After Johnson hit a
25-footer, the Bears retaliated
with a seven point barrage,
capped by two foul shots by
Gordy with 9:51 left that put the
score up to 75-59.
Mercer upped the point
spread to 19.86-67, after Monnie
Brabham hit an Moot jumper
with 4:34 left. '
, Southern Tech never came
closer than 16 for the rest of the
game, with Bivins finally
fouling out with 1:33 left in the
game. He ended up with seven
points, the first time all season
that he has been held under 20 in
a game.
Super-sub Creech hit the 100th
and the 101st points on a 15-
footer with 35 seconds left. It
marked the first<time this year
that the Bears offense has gore
over the century mark. Creed
also hit the last two points for
the Bears on a driving lay-up,
with just 2S seconds remaining.
Parker hit the last two points
of the game with eight seconds
showing on the dock, to make
the score 103-85.
Several of the Bears bucketi
in the second half were on fast
break lay-ups, mainly on steals
of Hornet passes by Brabham.
Creech, and Gordy.
The offense, of course, looked
good, with those 103 points on
the board, but the defense also
did a fine job, even though
Tech’s 85 points are the third
highest total scored against the
Bears this season.
For the game, the Bears were
43 for 66 from the floor for a
sensational 66.2 percent. Tech
was 53 percent from the floc r
And, for the first time in many a
moon, Mercer did not give its
opponents more than 20 chances
at the foul line. The Hornets
went to the line 18 times, hitting
on 11. The Bears were 17 for 24
from the line. •
Leonard Hardin, Mercer's
leading scorer with a 15.4
average and also leading
rebounder with 109 for the year,
was not able to attend the game
because of an illness in his
family.