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Revenge was on Mercer's mind Thursday night after last season's Atlantic Sun title defeat at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast. Well after defeating FGCU 68-55 Thursday night, the Bears will now leave the Atlantic Sun without a regular season home loss to the Eagles.
In a "blackout" at Hawkins Arena, senior guard Langston Hall put on a show for the Bears fans. He ended the game with 11 assists, including 8 in the first half alone. After the break, Hall did the heavy lifting for the Bears, propelling his points total to 14 on the evening.
While FGCU came out strong to start the game, continuing their momentum from a 32 point win over ETSU on Saturday, Mercer began their domination with electrifying back to back dunks to tie the game at 11 early in the first half.
This one would have been over a lot sooner had it not been for Eagles guard Bernard Thompson. The Georgia native scored 11 of FGCU's first 17 points and was really their only source of consistent offense throughout the game.
Daniel Coursey had his way inside all night while FGCU big men Eric McKnight and Nate Hicks struggled to keep an eye on the Bears three point shooters simultaneously.
Regardless, Florida Gulf Coast closed the first half on a mini run to cut the lead to just six. After the break Bob Hoffman had his troops ready and took advantage of some atrocious transition defense by FGCU. The Bears jumped out to a 52-36 lead with 12:15 remaining.
While Florida Gulf Coast made a late 2nd half run to make Bears fans a little nervous, Mercer never left the foot completely off the gas. Some late Langston Hall free throws sealed the deal for the now first place Bears.
The Eagles shot an abysmal 6% from three tonight which made Mercer's 32% performance look like one of the nation's best
The Bears stay at home to battle Stetson on Saturday, January 25 while FGCU continues their Georgia trip against Kennesaw State the same day.
