Final Score – Lipscomb: 77, Mercer: 92
Location – Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)
Records – Lipscomb: 0-2, Mercer: 2-1
THE SHORT STORY
Despite a 17-point career-high from
Ross Candelino, Lipscomb Men's Basketball fell to Mercer 92-77 on the road Sunday afternoon to fall to 0-2 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game started quickly with both squads pushing the pace in the opening minutes. The Bisons got the first bucket off the tipoff, but Mercer scored the next five. Candelino, who scored the first bucket, tied it back up with a triple to stop the Bears' mini run.
At the first media timeout, the Bears narrowly led Lipscomb 9-8.
Out of the timeout, Mercer outscored the Bisons 10-5 to create some separation and a 19-13 advantage. Lipscomb punched back with a pair of baskets, including an impressive transition bucket, to shave the deficit back to a pair.
Mercer scored one more bucket before the second media timeout of the half as the score was 22-17 in favor of the Bears with 11:14 to play in the frame.
The teams were shooting at an incredibly high clip with the Bisons connecting at over 50-percent and the Bears shooting nearly 60-percent as the game was tied at 25 each.
Over the next minutes, Mercer went on a 13-6 run to hold onto a 38-31 advantage at the under-four media timeout.
Mercer got out to its largest lead just before the halftime buzzer as Lipscomb trailed 35-46 at the half.
Out of the half, Mercer scored the first four points before
Ethan Duncan broke the drought with a two-pointer. Lipscomb's offense started to pick back up after the bucket and Candelino connected on another trey just before the under-16 timeout to cut the deficit 53-46.
Out of the timeout, Lipscomb cut the lead back to five as the score was 55-50 in favor of the Bears. Mercer got the lead back out to nine points, but
Titas Sargiunas started to heat up and connected on a triple to keep the lead from getting back to double digits.
Mercer, however, began to shut down the Lipscomb offense and took advantage on the other end to balloon its lead 75-60, forcing a Kevin Carroll timeout with 8:03 to play.
Lipscomb was ultimately unable to stop an impressive Bears offense down the stretch and fell 92-77 on the road.
HERD NOTES
- Candelino led Lipscomb with 17 points, a second-consecutive career high
- Other double-digit scorers included Charlie Williams (14), Mateo Esmeraldo (12) and Ethan Duncan (10)
- Williams led the Bisons' rebounding efforts with seven
- The Bisons shot 45-percent from the floor and 34-percent from behind the arc.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb has a quick turnaround with a matchup at UNC Asheville on Tuesday, November 11. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. CT.
