Free throws, rebounding and Quimari Peterson doom the Bears as Mercer falls to ETSU, 70-68

The effort was there all night, as was the energy.

Execution? It made appearances, but didn’t stay long enough.

After a back-and-forth contest, Mercer couldn’t hold on to the lead it had lost and regained. East Tennessee State’s Quimari Peterson made the second three-point shot in a few seconds, drilling the game-winner to lead the Bucs to a 70-68 win Wednesday night over the Bears at Hawkins Arena.

“You struggle a little bit from the free-throw line, got to find a way to get some defensive rebounds down the stretch,” Mercer head coach Ryan Ridder said. “Our kids fought really hard. They’re tough dudes.

“We’re going to find ways to win games in this league, but we’ve got to be a little better in terms of defensive rebounding.”

Mercer was outrebounded 41-31. ETSU got 16 offensive boards, six more than the Bears. The Bucs scored six more second-chance points.

Guard Ahmad Robinson was clearly amped for a showdown with Quimari Peterson, but maybe a little too amped, forcing many shots and finishing 3 of 15 from the floor and 1 of 6 from beyond the arc for 14 points.

“He’s our guy,” Ridder said of the 5-foot-10 senior from West Orange, New Jersey, who had many clutch moments in the second-half rally. “I don’t know if it’s too much (energy), He’s a competitor. I thought he played really hard. Some uncharacteristic things, missed some free throws that he normally makes.

“Ultimately, we’ve gotta find a way to win those.”

Alex Holt led Mercer with 16 points, Tyler Johnson adding 15 and Cam Bryant 13.

Peterson dropped 25 on the Bears.

Mercer’s three-game winning streak came to an end with its fourth single-digit loss and first defeat in Southern Conference play. The Bears fell to 9-7 overall and 2-1 against SoCon foes.

ETSU improved to 2-6 in games decided by less than 10 points, 9-7 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

The Bears head to the mountains on Saturday to face Western Carolina, then return home for a game against Samford on Jan. 15. Two road games follow, and Mercer isn’t back home until a two-game stand starting with Furman on Jan. 25.

The Bucs outplayed the Bears for much of the game, but Mercer had chances galore to change that. The free-throw line was no friend for the home team, as the Bears went 15 of 26 on free throws to 15 of 23 for the Bucs.

Mercer eventually shot better than East Tennessee State, but struggled down the stretch to finish.

The Bears took their first lead since the early minutes on Holt’s dunk after a sweet needle-threading pass from Robinson, one of his is game-high seven assists. That came with 3:45 left in the game, and the Bears followed up with two free throws from Robinson for a four-point lead.

Holt’s strong post bucket and free throw returned the lead to three with 1:48 left, and the Bucs missed a free throw, got the rebound, but turned it over on a shot-clock violation. That wasn’t the good omen Mercer hoped for.

Robinson turned it over on a double-team off the inbound, and ETSU converted another offensive rebound into a bucket to pull within one. Robinson lost his dribble, and ETSU got a point to tie it with 45.4 seconds left.

Robinson found Jah Nze against the press across the court, and Nze put in a nice power bucket off glass with 34.3 seconds left for a 68-66 lead.

The lead lasted only about 15 seconds.

Peterson, who finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, was short on a 23-footer from the right side, but John Buggs III got the long rebound and sent it back to Peterson, who moved a few feet to his right and drained it with Robinson flying at him.

That put ETSU up 69-68 with 19.5 seconds left, leading to a Mercer timeout.

Robinson drove hard to the right, as he did much of the night, this time with Karon Boyd — owner of a seven-inch height advantage over the Mercer point guard— defending. Robinson’s try went off Boyd’s arm and back out into the lane, rebounded by Buggs III, who made one of two with 8.7 seconds left.

Robinson again put it up, his 3-point try tipped by Gabe Fisk and falling short, leaving Robinson standing on the court speechless that he heard no whistle.

“I thought our defense was pretty good, for the most part,” Ridder said. “We held them to 39%, turned them over 15 times. We just didn’t finish enough possessions with the rebound.

“We’ve won nearly every close game we played, so we’ve been really good executing down the stretch. Tonight, I just didn’t get these guys good enough play, we turned the ball over. Ultimately, we’ve just got to capitalize and close out.”