Dragons Fall in Paradise Jam Semis to Mercer

Saturday, November 18

Lynchburg, Va.

6 p.m.

Drexel University

2-2

Mercer

4-1

Mercer

Drexel

Photo by: Mitchell Layton

11/18/2017 7:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Lynchburg, Va. - Mercer jumped out to an early lead and went on to defeat Drexel at the Paradise Jam Semifinals, 78-59, on Saturday at the Vines Center on the campus of Liberty University.

Drexel's offense was held in check most of the night by the Mercer defense. Tramaine Isabell led the Dragons with 14 points, but was just 3-for-9 from the floor. Jarvis Doles had 11 points and seven rebounds. The freshman was 3-for-3 from deep. Sam Green was also in double figures with 10 points and chipped in with six rebounds.

The entire Drexel offense struggled from the floor against the Bears' defense. The starting backcourt of Kurk Lee, Troy Harper and Sammy Mojica combined to shoot just 5-for-26 from the floor. In the opening round of the tournament, Drexel shot a sizzling 27-for-31 from the line, but on Saturday, things were very different. The Dragons made only seven of their 16 free throw attempts, while the Bears scored 21 points from the line.

The Bears (4-1) went on an early 7-0 run to take the lead for good at 14-5. The Dragons (2-2) were able to cut the lead to three midway through the first half on an Austin Wiliams lay-in and an Isabell free throw to make it 16-13. That would be as close as Drexel would come the rest of the day. The lead swelled to 11 points in the final minute of the half when Stephon Jelks nailed a three-pointer to put Mercer up 36-25 at intermission.

Ria'n Holland had an outstanding night for Mercer. He finished the day with 29 points, shooting 9-for-15 from the floor. Four of those buckets were three-pointers. Jelks had 15 of his 17 points in the first half and had 12 rebounds, all on the defensive end.

The Dragons will play one more game in Lynchburg before heading back home for the Thanksgiving break. They will play on Sunday at 6 p.m. against either Drake or Colorado. Those two teams play in the late game tonight.