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ROUNDUP
Basketball Teams Post Winning Records in Reenergizing Campus and Community Support
“R
aising the Bar” was an accomplishment for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs during the 2008-09 season. Both teams completed winning seasons, while facing challenging schedules, and let their fellow members in the Atlantic Sun Conference know to beware of the Bears in upcoming seasons. The men’s squad, under the direction of first-year head coach Bob Hoffman, finished the season 1715 overall with November upsets of Alabama and Auburn on the road, only three days apart, and then forcing Georgia Tech to rally from 18 points behind in the Mercer Homecoming game later that week. In subsequent days, the Bears traveled to several well-respected national programs — Oklahoma State, UCLA, Loyola Marymount and Iowa State — in nonconference play. In addition to the capacity crowd that filled the University Center against Georgia Tech, more than 3,100 people attended a late-season conference game against Lipscomb and the average attendance escalated to more than 1,800 per home outing, a 50 percent increase. Mercer entered the Atlantic Sun Championships at Lipscomb as the No. 6 seed after Campbell received the No. 5 position in a tie-breaker. The Bears battled Belmont, the three-time defending conference champion, after splitting decisions with the Bruins in the regular season. After James Florence scored to give Mercer a one-point lead with nine seconds to go, it took a miracle putback of a blocked shot by Belmont freshman Mick Hedgepeth, with two-tenths of a second to go, to
Baseball Wants to Peak at Championship The 2008 season capped off a successful three-year run for the Mercer baseball team, in which the Bears won more regular season conference games than any school in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Despite the wave of prosperity, there is one goal the Bears have yet to reach. Mercer earned the No. 2 seed in the ASun Championship for the third consecutive season in 2008. And, for the third season in a row, the Bears were left out of the title picture. The Bears compiled a 3-5 postseason record in the three-year span, including an 0-2 performance at the 2008 championship. Sixth-year head coach Craig Gibson
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defeat the Bears 65-64 and end Mercer’s season. The Bears wrapped up the 2008-09 campaign with its first winning season since the 2004-05 team finished 16-12 and notched just their third winning season in the last 15 years. Looking ahead to the 2009-10 season, the Bears lose only one senior, Calvin Henry. Five juniors will return for their senior seasons: Daniel Emerson, Bejay Corley, Brendan Walker, E.J. Kusnyer and James Florence, who needs 250 points to pass Sam Mitchell and become Mercer’s all-time leading scorer. Michael Ellis, who was already eligible to earn his degree, opted not to return for his senior season. The Mercer women, under second-year head coach Janell Jones, completed the season with a 16-14 mark, earned their first winning season since the 2001-02 season, and owned the biggest RPI turnaround in the country. The Bears saw their RPI rise to 162, after completing the previous season at 315. The improvement of 153 positions was the biggest leap of any NCAA Division I team, besting secondplace Central Florida by five spots. With a 12-8 conference mark, Mercer entered the A-Sun Conference Championships as the No. 4 seed. In the first round, the Bears eliminated No. 5 Stetson, 84-51. In the second round, they battled East Tennessee State University, the eventual conference champion. Even though the Bears had defeated the Lady Bucs twice during the regular season, they dropped an 82-60 decision that sent ETSU to the championship game. The Bears lose six seniors: Natasha Doh, TaShera Lewis, Cristin Seymour, Dominique Chism, Megan Lewis and Nicole Leonard, but will return eight letter-winners who gathered valuable playing
wants no more than to buck this trend in 2009. “Any time you are in conference play, you want to be playing your best baseball in the last one-third of your season,” Gibson said. “I don’t think we did that last year.” To turn things around in 2009, the Bears must do so with a relatively inexperienced squad after fielding a senior-laden lineup a year ago. In addition to a new look on the field, the dugout underwent a change as well, as Brent Shade joined the coaching staff as Mercer’s pitching coach after a fiveyear stint in the same position at Furman. “There is a lot of newness this season with a new staff member and a lot of new arms joining the team,” Gibson said. “We will also have some new starters who haven’t had an opportunity to start before, but it is
time this season. The announcement of Mercer hosting the men’s and women’s Atlantic Sun Conference Championships next season in the University Center can only heighten the degree of off-season conditioning in anticipation of even better seasons in 2009-10.
Courtney Ford, who was a major contributor for the women’s team this season, will be looked upon for even greater contribution in 2009-2010
their time now. We had a great fall segment and made strides in certain areas. We have a great group of guys that get better every day, but we don’t have a lot of past numbers on which to draw.” Lost in the graduating class of 2008 were four position players who started 50 or more games last season, including shortstop Billy Shaughnessy, first baseman Mike Armstrong, right fielder John Dortch and center fielder Matt Crawford. The Bears also lost 36-game starter Tyler Brown along with starting pitchers David Harden, Justin Boyette and Boone Webster. “Last year we had nine great seniors we relied upon very heavily,” Gibson said. “It is always difficult to replace quality players like that, but I think some newness is good. Our energy should be better this season.”
With a younger team and a smaller senior class (four in 2009), Gibson believes a fresh approach will translate into more success in May. “I have taken a different approach for this club, and I’m not putting the onus of success on our smaller senior class,” Gibson said. “Hopefully, with a renewed focus, and some new guys in the lineup, that will help when the conference tournament rolls around.” Mercer’s schedule includes games against four 2008 NCAA Championship qualifiers, including in-state rival Georgia Tech, SEC opponent Ole Miss, MEAC powerhouse Bethune-Cookman and fellow A-Sun foe, Lipscomb. “We have another tough non-conference schedule in 2009,” Gibson said. “Georgia