Sports

Mercer weathers Rice comeback to win in OT

In a Great Alaska Shootout game that will be remembered for the world's longest overtime period, the bounce-back Mercer Bears outlasted the comeback Rice Owls 77-71 Thursday night.

Mercer, which rattled the college basketball world last March by upsetting Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament, got 21 points from Ike Nwamu and 20 from Jibri Bryant to hold off a Rice team that pressed its way back into the first-round game after trailing by 15 points.

"That was a long game, wasn't it?" Rice coach Michael Rhoades said.

The five-minute overtime period lasted 25 minutes and featured 28 free throws. There were 13 free throws shot in the final 25 seconds, and seven in the last 8.1 seconds.

Mercer hit 12 of 16 foul shots in the extra period -- and Nwamu hit all six of his -- to grab a spot in Friday's semifinals at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Mercer (3-2) sank 31 of 44 free throws for the game, an effort led by Nwamu (8 of 10) and Bryant (11 of 13). The Bears withstood Rice's pressure defense late to continue their bounce-back ways. Mercer was coming off a Sunday loss to Colorado State, which meant bad news for Rice -- since the 2011-12 season, Mercer is 28-5 in games that follow losses.

The Bears had to weather a furious comeback by Rice (1-3), which trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half and went nearly a full 20 minutes -- from the 3 minute, 30 second mark of the first half to the 3:51 mark of the second half -- without holding a lead.

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"All three of our losses, we got down by double digits," Rhoades said. "The last one we got to within (three points) and today we tied it. We've gotta do better (at) finding ways to stay close and put the hammer down in the last minutes."

Rice nearly won in regulation. Andrew Drone, a 6-foot-10 center, scored from underneath the basket on a spinning penetrate-and-pass move by Marcus Jackson to give the Owls a 61-59 lead with 90 seconds left.

After more than a minute of futility by both teams -- an offensive foul by Leonard, a 3-point air ball by Rice's Bishop Mency, a 3-point attempt by Bryan that went in and out of the bucket -- Darious Moten grabbed the rebound of Bryan's miss and hit a layup that tied the game 61-61 with 24 seconds.

"There were all kinds of big plays and I could probably mention several of them," Mercer coach Bob Hoffman said, "but the biggest was Darious' putback to send it to overtime."

Rice had a good chance after Moten's basket, but Jackson, with nine seconds on the clock, dribbled the clock down and then launched something that might have been a shot or might have been a pass, but either way fell short of both the bucket and a posted-up Drone, sending the game to OT.

Mercer won the rebounding battle 38-29, getting boards from nine payers, and outshot Rice 41.9 percent to 38.5 percent. Rice's defense forced many of Mercer's 15 turnovers, including three in overtime.

Seth Gearhart, whose smooth shooting helped fuel Rice's comeback, scored a team-high 16 points for the Owls. Jackson finished with 13 points and five assists and point guard Max Guercy scored 13 despite being limited to 24 minutes by foul trouble. From the line, the Owls sank 19 of 27 shots, including 8 of 12 in overtime.

T.J. Hallice joined Nwamu and Bryan in double figures for Mercer with 12 points and Leonard, a guard who faced the worse of Rice's pressure, managed seven assists.

RICE (71) — Gearhart 5-11 3-4 16, Drone 2-9 5-5 9, Guercy 3-7 4-6 13, Jackson 4-12 3-5 13, Green 1-3 0-0 2, Peera 3-3 1-3 8, Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Rivers 1-4 0-0 2, Mency 2-7 1-2 6, Pollard 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 21-57 19-27 71.

MERCER (77) — Hallice 3-4 6-8 12, Moten 4-9 0-0 8, Leonard 1-5 4-10 6, Nwamu 5-13 8-10 21, Bryan 3-6 11-13 20, Lewis 0-2 0-0 0, Strawberry 1-2 0-0 2, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Bento 1-1 1-1 3, Ney 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 20-46 31-44 77.

Rice 28 33 10 — 71

Mercer 33 28 16 — 77

3-point goals — Rice 10-29 (Gearhart 3-6, Guercy 3-6, Jackson 2-7, Green 0-2, Peera 1-1, Rivers 0-2, Mency 1-5), Mercer 6-14 (Nwamu 3-6, Bryan 3-6, Lewis 0-1). Rebounds — Rice 29 (Mency 5, Gearhart 5), Mercer 38 (Nwamu 6). Total fouls — Rice 31, Mercer 22. Fouled out — Guercy, Moten. Assists — Rice 14 (Jackson 5), Mercer 16 (Leonard 7). Turnovers — Rice 11 (Jackson 3), Mercer 15 (Leonard 6). Blocks — Rice 4 (4 players with 1 each), Mercer 1. Steals — Rice 8 (Green 2, Peera 2), Mercer 5 (5 with 1). A — 2,366. Officials — Gattis, Watts, Holland.

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