Mercer Bears

Dimitrijevic, Gary lead Mercer past W. Carolina 85-79

Published Jan. 22, 2020 10:27 p.m. ET

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Djordje Dimitrijevic scored 24 points, Jeff Gary added 20 more and Mercer held on to defeat Western Carolina 85-79 in a Southern Conference rematch Wednesday night.

Ethan Stair added 17 points with 13 rebounds for the Bears (9-11, 3-4 Southern Conference) and the top-scoring trio combined to go 17-for-18 at the free-throw line, Gary scored 15 points after halftime — a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor including two of his three 3-pointers.

Mercer was 18-for-20 from the foul line, picking up eight more points than the Catamounts (12-6, 4-3) in a game that was nearly statistically equal otherwise,

After starting conference play 4-0, the Catamounts have now dropped three in a row — to Mercer, which they beat 11 days ago, and to SoCon powers Furman and ETSU.

Mason Faulkner scored 23 points for Western Carolina, Carlos Dotson scored a season-high 22 points plus 10 rebounds and six assists. Travion McCray had 13 points.

Mercer takes on VMI on the road on Saturday. Western Carolina faces Wofford at home on Saturday.

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