Rivers, Cummings lead Mercer to 6th straight win (Feb 20, 2018)
MACON, Ga. (AP) Demetre Rivers had 24 points and Ross Cummings added 19 as Mercer won its sixth straight Southern Conference game, blowing past Western Carolina 81-64 on Tuesday night.
Rivers, who was 9 of 12 from the floor, surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his career. He has totaled 1,010 points. Cummings drained 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. Desmond Ringer added 14 points for Mercer (16-13, 9-7), which embarked on its current win streak after losing four in a row and currently holds fifth place in the conference standings.
The Bears trailed early but took the lead for good when Rivers made three straight free throws for a 30-28 advantage with 4:27 left in the first half. They finished that period on a 12-5 run to take a 42-33 lead into the break. Mercer won the second half 39-31.
Mercer shot 56 percent (28 of 50) from the floor, while limiting the Catamounts to 24-of-52 shooting (46 percent), Mercer also made five more from distance, nailing 11 of 20.
Marc Gosselin scored 14 to lead Western Carolina (12-17, 7-9), which lost its fourth straight game.
