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mercer cluster
MARCH I. 1*71
Tom Robinson
From the
bench
With the win over Rollins last Friday night, our Mercer Bears now
have a winning season-we can be no worse than 12-11. Not bad con
sidering that we have already won twice as many games as we did
last year; we have also won iour games on the road, compared to
only one last year. ,
All of this, of course, comes under the heading of team spirit,
beaded by head coach Dwane Morrison and assistant coach Jay
Nidiffer. And, you would certainly have to give a plug to the man who
trough! the players and the two coaches to Mercer; Athletic Director
"ky^u could really tell the difference in the way the players feel
about each other if you had been with them this season. Thanks to the
two coaches and Mr. Stone, 1 was able to go with the team on all of
its road tripe, including the most recent three-day foray into
Florida.
It was a long trip, which the players slept off most of the way, say
for the moments when going through Waycross center Billie Smith
started pointing out where be used to live. Jack Scott then began
to ran Billie about this, and had Rod “Sup" English laughing all the
way to Jacksonville,
' About mid way between Jacksonville, where the team ate dinner,
and Daytona Beach, where we stayed, the bus pulled over for a 15-
minute walking period. It wound up being a rabbit chase as Monnie
Brabham and Ken Nison went running into some scrub-brush to try
to chase the little bunnies out into the awaiting hands of their team- 1 . I'm. rl J „ VV
matea. Alas, by the time the team arrived in Daytona, it was rabbit |JUX SplllS 1/ lOriUB liip
Mercer stodeats Pat Kelley. Sylvia Uncota. and Cindy Smith pose with Tiriaca A Natase. par-
tlclpanu In the latemaUooal Tennis Toarnament. _
Mercer gets winning mark
Martinez and
and they both
'their firat ten field
less.
The team checked into the hotel at about 7:38 but after catching
Flip Wilaoo. on TV coachea took them over to Seabreeze High School
to do some shooting.
The next miming, the coaches rousted everybody out of bed at
t:90, vent back over to the high school for some more practice, and
then ate breakfast.
Following breakfast, he team paid .a visit to Daytona Beach, but.
due to the fact that it was too cloudy and the water was too cold, they
beat a hasty retreat back to the hotel to try out the swimming pool
back there.
After frollicking at the pool for about a half-hour, the players went
to their respective rooms to catch a little sleep, before they
■wnt to dinner.
The ptsycrs came back to the hotel, had a
Gordy’s mom, then got dressed tn go to Rollins
The Rollins game started off like a nigb
Valenti were playing their last home game for
looked like they were sky-high as the Tars
goals through the nets, in a row.
But the Bears came bed;, playing their best basketball of the
——. cai«bi. and passed the Tars, even though it -took the old
panacea, two Jack Scott true throws, to pot the game in the ice bos.
The next day wu jud like the Brit, except this time-the team
stayed at the bench for about an bore, except for Scott, who borrowed
the bus drivers’ wife's car to do some giri-hunting.
The that night proved to be definitely unlike the one of the
jrevima night The Bears fefi behind, and stayed behind. But the
game wasn’t as simple as an that.
With 11 :M left to (day in the first haU, s foul was -ailed on center
mm. aoiih Captain Bruce Gordy argued with -ua of the reft for a
moment, the Morrison got up on Ms Met in protest One of the refs
thought Morrison called Urn a "homer", in other werdi. a ref who
favors the home team, and threw a technical foul on the Mercer
conch. Now Morrison was really up a wan, and kept arguing until he
wee hk with another technical foul. At this point, be told the team to
h—A (or the ik i ming room, which the team did. with no one
hesitating a second. After about ten mioutee. however, both teams
ere oat on the floor playing basketball again.
The nst of the game want on without incident, other than the fact
The Mercer Bears paid a visit
down to Florida this past.
weekend, and ckme away with
their 12th victory, which in
sures them of a winning record,
by defeating Rollins, *884, In a
contest much closer than the
Mercer knocked the Tars off
last Friday (12th) in same
fashion they had defeated them
uariier in the season. The game
was Rollins all the way. but the
Bears put in all together, in the
end, when they had to.
For Mercer, freshman flash
Leonard Hardin led the way
with 2S points, as well as a team
high 11 rebounds. Jack Scott
and Bruce Gordy chipped in 17
each and Monnie Brabham
apd David Jooes added six
each
. For the Tara, center Dwight
Higgs was the tough man with
23 points and 13 rebounds But
Higgs could manage only five
points in the second half, when
Rollins needed the inside help
• Frank Valenti put in 1* points,
Tim 9iee and Laurence Mar
tines had 13 each and Mike Ford
i a
making several key passes that
eventually led to a team
member scoring.
The Tars, 'ultimately built up a
16-point lead, 44-2», following
two foul shots by Shea, at the
2:14 mark. Rollins baa another
lead by that margin, 46-30,
before the Bears started cat
ching a little spark of their own
Mercer rolled off ten straight
point t within 53 seconds, while
cuttiigthe deficit to 4640. Two
foul shots by Denny Scott of
Roll ns with 34 seconds on the
dock sent the teams to their
res/active dressing rooms with
a 4 MO score.
The Beers came onto the
ccut for the second half looking
ULe they really wanted to play
basketball. They were moving
The Tara went ahead for the
last time, 74-73. on a foul shot by
Higgs.
But Brabham hit his third
basket in a row to put the Bears
ahead to stay, 75-74, However,
the game was not over yet, as
there was still five and a half
minutes to play.
Two foul shots .by Brabham
and Gordy, put the Bean a head
by three. 77-74. But seconds
later, Ford hit a bucket that
started a trend; the Bean
remained in the lead, but never
by more than three points.
Mercer lead 83-80, when
Morrison called a time-out.
Martinet put the Tan one
back, 83-62, and then seconds
later, Jones was fouled. He went
to the line on a one-on-one
H W UK #otuu —
Bean were tan*. But, with J» second* left in the game, Jim
Graham and Fred Beei (of Stetson) got into a shoving match that
soon argued tnlo a boxing match. Two other Stetson playen Jumped
Graham abound into a row of seats at ooe end of the Armory.
But than beta) came in the person of Jack Scott, who betted one
m player, and chased another into the stands. Both benches
■nptted by this time, and it was quite a while before ordrr eras
SSSJ
On the bus oo the way back to the hotel, Rod “Sup” English showed-
what each member of the team feels about each other. "Jim" he
said" if you’re oot all right we 11 go beck there and beat sol
Even is mtte of the lorn. the players were not dawn. ev
the trip back to Macon you cnukkil tell it, because JuM about
everyone was asleep
Bm the win over Rollins gave the Bean a winning record,
something onboard of last year That alone was enough to make
mwbm oi them hintv.
i wem down to defeat in their Met two
games, but etill it bos to bee
Peggy Oottm and bm <
crew. They started with only the here
mi ■min for practice, and gave us another teem to root for. Lhepe
this won’t he dropped by Ibo school )mt because they loet two more
g—n«e then they wen. It woidd be < lousy brook for e lot of herd
work. I’d ateo like to thank Mim Colhne for all the help she has given
1 my articles about the girls into something
. At the beginning of the game,
it looked like Rollins was trying
to blow the Bean back to
Macon. The Tan jumped off to
an 68 lead, then later tgiped the
score to 184. with getting ten of
the points
It then appeared that the
Bean had settled down, as they
cut the score to 18-15, following
a jumper by Gordy with 13:10
left in the half
But Rnlline continued to hit
from the outside (they hit their
first ten field goals in a row)
and had another ten point lead.
30-30 with eight and a half
mmutes to play In the half.
K wasn’t that the Bean were
playing terrible, it was that
Rollins wee playing greet.
Valenti, especially, looked
great, even though be only put
in seven points in the half. He
better, passing better, and just
generally playing better
But Rollins still managed to
move back into a fourteen point
teed7*4-50. It was mainly due to
hot grating on the part of
Valenti, again, and to Ford, et>o
hadn't scored In the Brat half,
bid was now connecting on 35-
That was to be as dose as
Rollins was to come to victory,
. The Bean, slowly but
cut the lead down. A
r by Hardin at 11:31 cot it
to 8688. Another 15-footer by
Hardin mowed it down to 7885,
with e little over nine minutes to
play. "
state a pan and
fast broke down court for tbe
bucket that put tbe Bears Just
two points back, 71-71, before
Rodins could call a time-out.
pan and connected on a lay-up
that tied the game at 73*1), with
left to aiay in the juyne.
situation, made the first, but
the second.
Rollins got tbe rebound, with
only 54 seconds left, and tried to
score, but only wound up fouling
Scott, who went to the free
throw line with six seconds
remaining end put both shots in
for Mercer’s M point Martinet
put in an unmolested lay-up
with only two seconds left that
wound ig> the scoring.
The next .night, Mercer
traveled down to DeUnd to take
on the Stetson Hatters, another
teem the Bears had knocked off
in tbe Coliseum, 73-53 But this
time it was a different story, as
Mercer bowed to Stetson, 7884.
Again, Hardin area the big
men far the Been with a season
high 37 paints, as well as pulling
down rebounds. Scott bad 14.
moat of thoae In the last five
minutes of the game, and Gordy
had >.
For Stetaon, their. whole
starting Line-up hit in
, with Fred Bi