Home
Titles
The Mercer Cluster.
February 20, 1989
Image 8
The Mercer Cluster., February 20, 1989, Image 8
About The Mercer Cluster. (Macon, Ga.) 1920-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1989)
Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
of 12
Next
Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
of 12
Next
Newspaper Page Text
FACE S-THE CUSTER, FEBRUARY 20, !*•»
—Sports
Bears in a dogfight for a
TAAC Tournament bid
By ROBBIE TURNLEY decisive basket that gave UTSA the
Sports Editor victory.
The Mercer Bears are currently Junior 6"7" forward Scott Bailey
tied for seventh place with Samford scored a career high 31 points as
intheTnns America Athletic Coo- ' Mercer trimmed the Hardin-
A & M's Winder (14) and Hamilton were taken out of the game after their collision. The Bears shut
out A & M 10-0 Wednesday.
Teddy Bears split last week
ference with a conference slate of
5-8 and 9-12 overall this season.
The Bears are battling with Sam
ford. Houston Baptist, and Hardin-
Sunmons for one of the eight spots
in the TAAC Tournament to be
played at Little Rock. Arkansas.
March 7-9. Mercer played Houston
Baptist (4-9 in TAAC play) and
Centenary (6-6 in conference ac
tion) this past weekend. However,
scores were not available by press
tune.
Mercer lost a close one on the
road to the University of Texas-San
Antonio Road runners Thursday'
February 9.^ Senior Dion Pettus
connected on a ten-footer with
seven seconds remaining to give
UTSA the win.
Pettus led all scorers with 25
pouats. Mercer was paced by Scott
Bailey who had 19 points. Other
Bears in double figures were Reg
gie Titus with 18 points. Chris
Phillips- with 16 points, and
Dwayne Taylor with 10 points.
The Road runners dominated
every statistic except three point
shooting: they shot only 25 percent
^compared to Mercer’s 57.1 per
cent. UTSA outrebounded Mercer
26 to 23 and also shot better than
the Bears. The Road runners shot an
astounding 63.5 percent from the
field to Mercer’s 54.5 percent.
Both UTSA and Mercer had 17
free throw attempts, however, the
Roadrunoers made 13 while the
Bears connected on only 10.
Texas-San Antonio had a 43-33
halftime lead. In the second half.
Mercer came back to even the coo-
test at 78-all with LfU-epmaimng
in the game. PenuS jumper was the
Simmons Cowboys 79-77 in over
time Saturday. February 11, in
Abilene. Texas. Senior guard Reg
gie Titus drilled a three-pointer to
propel the Bears over the
Cowboys.
Bailey, who was 17 of 21 from
the throw line, set a new record for
the most free throw attempts in a
game by a Mercer players since
they joined the Trans America
Athletic Conference in 1978.
Titus has made 68 of 139 three-
pointers this season for 48.9 per
cent. The 6S field goals leaves him
just three short of his school record
7] established last season and has
at least six games remaining this
season to break his record. Last
year he finished at 71 of 152.
The Bean are on the road this
weds. They square off against the
Trojars of Arkansas-Little Rock
this Thursday and then travel to
Birmingham. Alabama, this Satur
day for a very important game with
the Samford Bulldogs. Arkansas-
Little Rock is 11-2 in TAAC ac
tion. good for second place in the
conference, while Samford is tied
with Mercer for seventh place in
the conference with a 5-8 mark.
Mercer returns home Tuesday.
February 28. to host the Armstrong
State Pirates of NCAA-Diviskm II.
This will be the Bean’ final home
game of the season before the
TAAC Tournament. This game
will also be a good preview of bow
Mercer will perform against Divi
sion II opponents. The finals of the
NIKE shootout will be held at
halftime of this game, so make
plans to be there.
By DARRELL BUTLER
SUIT Writer
The Mercer Teddies pulled off a
73-63 win over the Georgia
Southern Lady Eagles on Monday
night in Statesboro. Southern, the
defending New South Womens
Athletic Conference champions
were heavy favorites.
Earlier this year, Mercer posted
its first win against the Lady Eagles
since 1985. The Teddies improve
to 11-11 overall. 6-4 in conference
play, tied for 2nd with FAMU.
Southern falls to 5-5 in conference
play, 3rd place.
Kerslin Skagius was high scorer
for the Teddies with 23 points,
enough for game-high honors.
“This game definitely gained
respect for us. She (Southern Head
Coach Drema Greer) made some
remarks to the newspapers follow
Continued on page 9
Mercer needs boost in morale and school spirit
Where hat the .pint gone? I thought intercollegiate
alheletics were supposed to be accompanied by enthusiasm
and excitement. But not at Mercer.
1 remember the glory day, of high school football, Texas-
sryle. very well. In Texas, prep football is as popular as the
□alias Cowboys. I can recall the year our football team the
Brownwood Lions, woo the stale championship I was of
fensive nght tackel for this glamorous team. Boy. was il a
great feeling! We felt proud of our accomplishments and were
confident there wasn’t any problem our team could not
conquer
Our high school had pep rallies with all the hoopla—band,
twirkn. cheerleaders, and the pep squad. I was honored to
wear a maroon blazer an game day 1 loved logo to the pep
rallies because die football players felt that the students were
100 percent behind us. The fans were Laughing and cheer
ing. I irnarmher homecoming well: the football players swit-
Robbie
Turnley
ched uniforms with die cheerleaders and t widen I was a
twitter and we did a hysterical routine together. 1 especially
enjoyed listening to our head football coach. Coach Wood.
He motivated us by instilling a hate for our opponents in us.
This move got us psyched uprfor the game and more than
likely resulted in a Lson victory. And il was a big thnll to
be able to speak to the fans and be picked as the player or
the week! The fans uplifted us and came out to see us play.
even when we weren't winning.
Where has the spirit gone? We definitely have a lack of
school morale and spirit here at Mercer What can Mercer
do to increase fan support? Well, here are a few suggestions
Does Mercer have an athletic booster club? 1 have heard
of the Bearbackers and 1 can actually count the number of
people who sil in their section at Mercer basketball games
And some of these people may not even be members of the
club. The Bears and Teddy Bears need a booster club to help
raise fan consciousness and support in the community. One
club that effectively does this in Macon is the Macon
Touchdown Club. It promotes high school football in Georgia
and invites great football coaches to come and speak to the
Middle Georgia community. A booster club could also at
tempt to keep Mercer in Division I by having some fundrais
ing activities. For example, the club could have a "Meet
Continued on page 9
