Final
Mercer takes out Florida Gulf Coast for Atlantic Sun crown
Mar 9, 2014 - 9:59 PM Fort Myers, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - For Mercer, revenge is sweet.Langston Hall and Anthony White Jr. each scored 15 points as the Bears held off late-charging Florida Gulf Coast 68-60 to capture the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament title and book their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 29 years.
The game was a rematch of last year's final, won by Florida Gulf Coast on Mercer's home floor.
Mercer returned the favor on Sunday, ending the Eagles' 12-game home winning streak and their hopes of another storybook run in the NCAA Tournament. FGCU advanced to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed, knocking off both Georgetown and San Diego State.
The Bears (26-8), who will join the Southern Conference next season, got 13 points from Daniel Coursey.
Brett Comer and Bernard Thompson scored 14 points apiece for an Eagles (22-12) team that fell behind by 18 in the first half and nearly climbed out of the hole.
The start to the game was delayed due to a power problem at Alico Arena, where FGCU had won 17 straight against A-Sun teams.
The issue was a harbinger of the Eagles' flickering offense in the first half.
FGCU shot 20.8 percent (5-of-24) and Mercer seized control behind a 20-2 run.
The Bears were cold shooting to begin the second half, missing 11-of-12 from the floor, and the Eagles chipped away at the deficit.
They pulled to within 43-42 on a Chase Fieler layup with 8:50 remaining, but couldn't move ahead. FGCU held the lead only once in the game, after Thompson opened the scoring with a free throw.
Mercer responded with a 7-0 run to create a little distance.
FGCU continued to hang around, with a Thompson layup closing the gap to 59-56 with 2:29 to play. Eric McKnight was fouled on the play, but missed both free throws for the Eagles.
Hall then hit a pullup jumper and Coursey sank two free throws to make it 63-56 with one minute left.
Game Notes
FGCU became the fourth team to reach the A-Sun title game three straight years ... Both teams went 14-4 to share the regular-season league title, but FGCU won the tiebreaker for the top seed ... Thompson became the Eagles' all-time leading scorer with 1,379 points. He passed Ryan Hopkins, who had 1,367 points from 2002-05 ... Comer registered five assists to tie Bryan Crislip (2002-05) for the most in school history with 606.
- MERCER: 68
FLA GULF COAST: 60
Final
Mar 9 4:30 PM - 172
roots - 112
roots - 142
roots - 172
roots - 164
roots - 104
roots - 112
roots - 92
roots - 64
roots - 92
roots - 107
roots - 84
roots - 67
roots - MERCER: 33
FLA GULF COAST: 17
Halftime
Mar 9 3:14 PM - MERCER: 0
FLA GULF COAST: 0
1st Half - 20:00
Mar 9 2:25 PM
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