The Mercer Men’s basketball team held on in double overtime to defeat the County College of Morris 101-96 on Wednesday, February 13 during the last home game of the season.
The game was supposed to be played the day before but was postponed due to inclement weather. This did not diminish the size of the crowd on the rescheduled date.
The courtside stands were filled with other student athletes there to support the team.
Head coach Howard Levy said, “It was really a great atmosphere to play sort of the top team in the league with all the athletes from the school here. It was really a lot of fun.”
He continued by saying, “ It was a great game, I’m sure, for both teams to play in. That’s a real college basketball environment.”
A previous encounter at Morris between the two teams on December, 18 ended with the Mercer Vikings losing 73-80.
This time, Mercer was able to outlast the Titans in a game that ending up going into two 5-minute overtime periods. Twelve lead changes occurred throughout the contest.
Mercer sophomore Donovon Guess led the scoring with 32 points, 24 of which came from behind the 3-point arc.
“They are a good team but we consider our team to be just as good,” Guess said.
The Vikings maintained a lead for the first 18 minutes of the 1st half, but Morris was able to work their way back in, overtaking Mercer at the cusp of halftime. Morris led 38 to 36 going into the break.
With Mercer leading 57 to 54 with 9:23 remaining in the second half, Morris again went on an offensive scoring spree. A flurry of Morris baskets over the course of five minutes resulted in the Vikings trailing 62 to 68 with only 4:41 left on the clock.
3-point shots by Letrell Randall and Jamir Jenkins helped the home team force their way back into the game. Regular time expired with the score being tied at 74.
Guess said, “We knew it was going to be a
Mercer again fell behind in the five-minute overtime period, trailing 82 to 87 with 56.1 seconds left.
Guess made a 3-point shot off the backboard with clinical precision as time expired, tying the score and sending the game into a second overtime period.
“That was our only hope and he happened to make it, so it was great. I wasn’t going to cry if it didn’t go in because I know we’re hopefully going to get another shot at those guys in the playoffs,” Levy said.
With less than a minute left in the 2nd overtime, Mercer opened up a 100-93 lead against Morris. The game ended with a final score of 101 to 96.
Coach Levy said, “I’m really proud of just the way they hung in there. There were times when it looked like we could have folded and they always bounced back.”
John Evans recorded ten rebounds, while Jamir Jenkins was precise from the free-throw line, sinking 10 out of his 11 shots.
Standout players for Morris included Abraham Kromah, who scored 28 points, and Joshua Morris who recorded 12 rebounds.
A brief ceremony was held before the game to honor the Sophomore players on the team: Adnan Bajrami, Brandon Rojas, Julian Thompson, Donovon Guess, Jamir Jenkins, and John Evans.
Donovon Guess was singled out by Levy for recently having reached the 1,000 point milestone while at Mercer.
The win meant the Vikings finished the regular season with a 10-3 home record and an overall record of 19-9. The next challenge for the team will be the NJCAA Region XIX playoffs.
“This was really a good team. This was probably the best team we’ve played and it was great that we were able to hang in there and end up on top,” Levy said.
