Box Score

Macon, GA -- The Piedmont College men's basketball team dropped an 87-62 decision at NCAA Division I Mercer University this afternoon in MU's University Center.  After trailing by 21 at half, the Lions rallied to cut the lead to 14 late but could not close the final gap and drop to 3-3 on the season.

After the teams battled to a 7-7 tie at the first media timeout, Mercer slowly pulled ahead to 20-14 midway through the first half.  The host Bears used a 14-0 run to stretch their lead and take a 42-21 advantage into intermission. 

The Lions improved their play after halftime and after Mercer extended its lead to 26, the Lions responded with a 14-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to only 14 points with just over 10:00 remaining in the contest. 

After a first half that saw the Lions shoot 32% from the field and get out-rebounded by nine, the team responded and was just minus two on the glass after half and improved their shooting touch to 53%. 

Piedmont held MU's James Florence who entered the game ranked 6th in Division I scoring at 24.3 ppg to just 14 points on 12 shot attempts.  Florence scored 40 points in an earlier contest at Georgia Tech.  The difference for the Bears was E.J. Kusnyer who netted a game-high 26 highlighted by an 8-10 performance from behind the three-point line. 

For Piedmont, #J.C. Herebia# scored a team-high 15 to go along with eight rebounds.  Michael Rubio and Tyler Arnold added 12 and 11 points respectively.

Piedmont will return to action on short rest as the team travels to Lookout Mountain, GA on Saturday, December 12 to face Covenant College.  The game, which is set for a revised tip-off time of 4:00, marks the Lions' sixth road game in their first seven games.