Last-minute loss to Mercer ‘encouraging’

The GCSU men’s basketball team narrowly lost 69-66 in a hard fought Coaches vs. Cancer exhibition game to the Mercer Bears on Nov. 5.

Senior guard Ty Rowland fell short in his effort to force the game into overtime with his three-point attempt from just inside half-court during the final seconds of the game.

“Sometimes you’ll miss, sometimes you’ll make it,” Rowland said. “If we’d shot better we’d have won the game.”

Senior guards Graham Martin and Jake Rios led the Bobcats in scoring with a combined 26 points, with 15 and 11 respectively. Martin also contributed five steals. Sophomore forward Ryan Aquino contributed 10 points and five rebounds for the Bobcats.

“I did alright,” Aquino said. “I was trying to get in the swing of things again. I just wanted to makes sure I was hitting the glass and getting rebounds, just little things that would get the team possessions.”

The Bobcats shot 43.5 percent from the field in the first half and 33.3 percent in the second. They forced 22 turnovers from the Bears, 12 in the first half and 10 in the second.

Taking advantage of Bear turnovers and 13-of-18 (.722) free throws, the Bobcats controlled the first half, leading 35-26. Senior forward Robert Thomas made two of the 13 free throws, allowing the Bobcats to retain the lead 19-16 with 7:55 left in the half.

After the Bears tied the game at 19 with 6:45 left, the Bobcats took off on a 16-7 run to end the first half with a nine-point lead.

“We played really well in the first half,” Rowland said, “but we should have done some things better.”

Both teams battled intensely in the second half. Two free throws by Mercer’s Jeff Smith tied the game at 48 and the Bears took their first lead 51-48 after a 3-pointer with 12:40 left in the game.

The Bobcats continued to fight hard, coming within two points after a 3-pointer by Martin to make the score 68-66 with 12.8 seconds left in the game. A good Mercer free throw made it a three-point game, forcing Rowland’s desperation 3-pointer attempt.

Despite the loss, head coach Terry Sellers feels confident in the Bobcats.

“We only came up three points short and I think we can play much, much better so I’m encouraged,” Sellers said. “I didn’t se anything that we couldn’t fix, nothing that we can’t work on and improve.”

For their season opener, the Bobcats are at home to play Newberry College on Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

“I know the guys are looking forward to (playing Newberry), you can only practice so long until it’s time to start playing games,” Sellers said. “As a coach, you always want to have one more week.

“It’ll be a good chance to see where we are against a good (NCAA) Division II team that’s in our region.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 13 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry