Pirates Barely Beaten By Mercer

Friday, November 25

Savannah, Ga.

5 p.m.

East Carolina University

4-2

Mercer

4-1

Team	1	2	F
East Carolina	20	46	66
Mercer	31	39	70

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

November 25, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Ria'n Holland scored a career-high 26 points and his 3-pointer with 20 seconds left helped Mercer beat East Carolina 70-66 on Friday in the Savannah Invitational.

Trailing by nine at halftime, East Carolina rallied to a 66-65 lead on Andre Washington's free throw. Holland made his 3-pointer after a Mercer timeout, then Demetre Rivers got a big steal on the next possession. Jordan Strawberry iced it for Mercer with two free throws.

Stephon Jelks sparked and capped Mercer's opening 17-3 run with 3-pointers and the Bears led 31-20 at halftime after shooting 41.9 percent from the floor (13 of 31). ECU didn't score a field goal for eight- and four-minutes stretches in the half and shot 27 percent.

Rivers, Jelks and Ryan Johnson scored 10 points apiece for the Bears (4-1).

Kentrell Barkley scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Pirates (4-2). B.J. Tyson added 15 points and Washington had 10.

How It Happened

Mercer raced out to a 17-3 lead in the first 10 minutes as the Pirates made just of 1-of-12 field goal attempts to start the game with six turnovers.
ECU made 5-of-10 field goal attempts and 5-of-7 free throws to pull within eight, 28-20, on 3-pointer by Jeremy Sheppard before Jordan Strawberry made a 3 directly in front of the Pirate bench to put the Bears up 11, 31-20, at halftime.
The Pirates opened the second half on an 18-8 run to pull within one, 39-38, with 12:33 remaining. Mercer pushed its lead back out to eight, 48-40, before ECU tied the game at 54-all with 6:52 to play.
Holland scored the next five points as Mercer retook the lead and held it until Tyson's jumper tied it at 65-all.

Inside The Box Score

Barkley scored 17 points in the second half on 6-of-9 shooting, while grabbing six rebounds. He also made all four of his free throw attempts after halftime.
Washington scored all 10 of his points after halftime, while Tyson scored 11 of his 15 in the final 20 minutes.
ECU shot over 70 percent at the free throw line for the second time this season, connecting on 15-of-19 (.789). Oddly, enough each time the Pirates shot over 70 percent at the charity stripe this season it has been away from Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum and resulted in a loss (.788 at Charlotte).
After committing seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes, the Pirates only committed four during the final 30 minutes of play.
The Pirates fell to 0-2 this season when allowing its opponent to make 10 or more 3s. Mercer finished the game with 11.

Next Tip-Off