Rivers, Cummings lead Mercer to 6th straight win

Feb 21, 2018, 02:12 am

MACON, Ga. -- 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.