No championship
The USU men’s basketball team has struggled to win close games both at home and on the road this season, and the curse reared its head during the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament on Wednesday.
Junior guard Travis Smith scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Mercer Bears of the Atlantic Sun Conference over the Aggies 70-67 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum to claim the 2012 CIT Title.
“The three road wins and being on the road together I think has united us even further,” Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman said. “And solidified what these young guys believed they could do anywhere, in any place and against any odds. That is what we were able to accomplish, and it has been an unbelievable experience for our fans and our community. It is just a blessing to be a part of something this special, and we thank everyone who was a part of it.”
Mercer lead for much of the game – the Bears lead by as much as 10 points early in the second half – but USU took a six-point lead late in the game
A 3-pointer from Smith gave Mercer a 48-43 before USU responded with 9-1 run. Junior forward Kyisean Reed had back-to-back-to-back dunks as part of the run and sophomore forward Danny Berger capped the spurt with a 3-pointer.
“He got the crowd really into it,” Berger said of Reed. “It’s always good when he throws it down.”
USU’s 6-point lead with 4:35 to play quickly dwindled and turned into a 3-point advantage for a Bears courtesy of an 11-point run. Smith hit another 3-pointer – his third of the game – to give Mercer a lead it did not relinquish.
“You’ve got to hand it to them, they played good,” Berger said. “They answered all of our runs and they made the right plays.”
Sophomore guard Preston Medlin hit a 3-pointer with five seconds to play – his second of the game – to cut the lead 67-68. USU forced Mercer to make its free throws down the stretch, and the Bears were able to sink all their free throws including a pair from sophomore guard Jakob Gollon following Medlin’s 3-pointer.
With no timeouts remaining, USU was forced to improvise on the final possession, and senior guard Brockeith Pane came up just short on a 30-foot 3-point attempt.
“Mercer is a really good basketball team,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “You have to believe they can win this tournament when they win three games on the road. They’ve got a lot of different pieces to the puzzle; they’ve got a lot of different guys that can score. They just played smarter than us and that was basically the biggest difference. They’ve won 27 games for a reason. They’re a good team.”
Neither team shot particularly well in the first half and the defensive struggle continued the entire game. USU finished the night shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from 3-point land. Mercer shot 40.4 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3-point land.
Despite the loss, Morrill said the CIT experience has been positive for USU.
“It was a good way to end the year, winning some games,” Morrill said. “It’s tough losing at home like this, but all in all its been good for us. The seniors got to go out winning some games rather than a two-point loss in the conference tournament. They got to keep playing and win. It’s tough tonight, but overall it’s a good taste in their mouths.”
Medlin said he hopes USU will carry the momentum of winning seven of its last nine games into next season.
“We turned around the season with that road trip (at San Jose and Hawaii),” Medlin said. “We fought hard to get to 21-16, and that’s something that we’re proud of.”
“We went out and had fun, had a huge turnaround and started doing what we know how to do. It was a good tournament. We got five extra games on the season, which most teams don’t get to see. We just need to get ready and carry it over to next year.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu