Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - In front of a boisterous home crowd, Belmont men's basketball led from start to finish in defeating Mercer, 89-67, Thursday night.
Positive trends of strong first halves and balanced contributions continued in the conference and regular season home opener for the Bruins.
Junior Drew Hanlen (St. Louis, Mo.) got Belmont off an running with assists to senior Jon House (Guelph, Ont., Canada) and sophomore Brandon Baker (Milford, Ohio) as the Bruins scored the game's first five points.
Both teams exhibited a fine shooting touch early; after Brian Mills hit a straight on three-pointer to get Mercer with 11-8, freshman Blake Jenkins (Knoxville, Tenn.) sparked a key run to increase the Belmont lead to 20-12 less than eight minutes in.
Some high flying plays from Mills and Brandon Moore got the Bears equalized at 20, before Belmont embarked upon another trademark first half spurt.
Strong interior play from the post duo of junior Mick Hedgepeth (Crossville, Ala.) and junior Scott Saunders (New Orleans, La.) bumped the lead back to nine, 35-26, with 3:48 left in the half.
A Jake Gollon layin trimmed the score to 37-30, but baskets from sophomores Trevor Noack (Keller, Texas) and Kerron Johnson (Huntsville, Ala.) and a deep three-pointer from sophomore Ian Clark (Memphis, Tenn.) sent the Bruins to the locker room up 44-30.
At first glance, the 14 points margin would seem hard to believe, as Mercer shot 61 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Bruins, 13-10. But Belmont also shot 50 percent from the floor, went perfect from the free throw line, and forced 12 Bear turnovers.
Another interior basket from Hedgepeth and the straight on three from Baker increased the Bruin edge to 49-32 with 18:42 remaining.
Strong offensive play from Mercer's Moore could not offset the evenly distributed Bruin attack. A driving layin from Johnson and a dunk from Hedgepeth off a deft feed from Clark gave Belmont a 63-42 lead with 12:15 to go.
Belmont once again utilized its deep and talented bench to keep the pressure on Mercer. The Bears got within 65-51 midway through the second half, but solid Bruin decision making down the stretch allowed the hosts to pull away.
All told, Belmont shot 48 percent (30-for-62) from the field - including 9-for-25 from three-point distance. The Bruins handed out 21 assists on their 30 made field goals, and forced 21 Mercer turnovers.
Hedgepeth led three Bruins in double figures with a season-high 19 points. Clark added 16, while Johnson had 10. Baker had 6 points and a season-high nine rebounds.
Moore led Mercer (2-6, 0-1 Atlantic Sun) with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Belmont (5-1, Atlantic Sun 1-0) wins its conference opener for the eighth time in the last nine years. The Bruins return to action Saturday, Dec. 4 at Vanderbilt. Tip-off is set for 1 pm CT.
The game will be broadcast on CSS, with the live play-by-play of Voice of the Bruins Kevin Ingram on the Bruin Sports Network.
NOTE: Sophomore Trevor Noack played the majority of the game wearing No. 33, after blood was discovered on his No. 30 jersey. The last time a Bruin player ended a game wearing a different number was Jan. 27, 2006, when all-time great No. 24 Justin Hare ended the game wearing No. 34. Hare scored a game-high 24 points as Belmont defeated Florida Atlantic, 92-82.
