The Winthrop Eagles and the Mercer Bears meet in college basketball action from the Hawkins Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Winthrop Eagles will look to rebound from an 89-65 loss to Auburn last time out. Kelton Talford leads the Eagles in scoring and rebounding with 17.8 PPG and 9.5 RPG while Toneari Lane has 13 PPG and Cory Hightower has 12.5 PPG with a team-high 3.5 APG to lead the Eagles in assists this season. Sin’Cere McMahon has 11 PPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for Winthrop up to this point in the season. As a team, Winthrop is averaging 71.8 PPG on 43% shooting from the field, 36.1% from three and 73.9% from the foul line this season.
The Mercer Bears will try to bounce back from an 85-83 OT loss to Georgia State last time out. Jalyn McCreary leads the Bears in scoring and rebounding with 16.7 PPG and 6.3 RPG while Luis Hurtado Jr. has 13.3 PPg with 4.7 RPG and a team-high 5 APG as well this season. Shawn Walker Jr. has 12.7 PPG while Kamar Robertson, Jah Quinones and Michael Zanoni each have 10+ PPG this season. As a team, Mercer is averaging 92 PPG on 54.2% shooting from the field, 38.6% from three and 64.8% from the foul line this season.
Winthrop is 11-23 ATS in their last 34 games following an ATS loss and 7-19 ATS in their last 26 road games while the over is 11-2 in their last 13 games following a loss. Mercer is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 home games against a team with a losing road record while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.
I get the case to be made either way in this game, but it’s hard to know what to expect from either side in this game as Winthrop’s two road games this season have been tough ones against Auburn and Penn State while Mercer’s played in some close ones at home so far. That’s why I’m leaning towards Winthrop and the points as I think this is a two point game whichever way you have it going. Give me the points.