Friday, July 15, 2005

MACON, Ga.- The Mercer men's basketball team returns three starters from last year's squad that finished with a 16-12 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Included in that trio is first team All Conference performer Will Emerson and NCAA Division I assists leader Damitrius Coleman. Emerson, a 6'10" senior from St. Mary's Georgia led the Bears in both scoring and rebounding with averages of 15.6 and 7.5 respectively. Those number were the third best in scoring and fourth best in rebounding in the A-Sun. Emerson, who was a first team Academic All American as well as the Conference Male Student Athlete of the year, scored in double figures in 26 of 28 games and recorded five double doubles. Coleman, a 6'1" senior from Key West, Florida, made quite an impression on the Mercer program in his first season after transferring from St. Petersburg Community College. The flashy point guard put up 13 assists in his first outing in the orange and black and led the country in that category the entire year finishing with an average of 8.0 per game. He also has scoring ability and averaged 6.2 ppg. Against Florida Atlantic Coleman had a rare triple double with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.

The remaining returning starter is 6'5" junior Jacob Skogen from Lookout Mountain, Georgia. The former "Mr. Tennessee Basketball" finished second in team scoring with a 14.7 average and added three rebounds a game. Skogen is probably the most athletically gifted player on the squad and will put up some big numbers on any given night.

The biggest challenge facing Head Coach Mark Slonaker as he enters his ninth season as captain of the Mercer ship, is replacing forward Wesley Duke and shooting guard James Odoms. Those two players accounted for almost 26 points and more than 12 rebounds per game, plus they provided excellent senior leadership. Duke, who signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos of the NFL, was the squad's most consistent defensive performer and was the team's inspirational leader while Odoms was an outside threat that could not be ignored.

Of the remaining players only redshirt junior Ross Alacqua has ever started a game for the Bears and he has only two. Alacqua, a 5'8" guard from Alpharetta, Georgia, was originally a walk-on and earned a scholarship this season. He averaged 7.1 points in 27 appearances a year ago and sparked the Bears to wins over conference champion Central Florida when he poured in 26 points and at Stetson when he connected for 14. He is deadly from long range and recorded 50 three pointers on 133 attempts in 2004-2005. Andrew Brown, a 6'1 senior from Pontiac, Michigan and Shaddean Aaron, a 6'6 sophomore from Pomona, California, should compete for considerable playing time at the guard positions. Brown ignited several key wins down the stretch last season and Aaron continues to improve.

Up front, sophomores Sam Dolan and Brian Pfohl will be in the mix for a possible starting position now that they have a year under their belt. Dolan, a 6'9 bruiser from St. Johnsville, New York appeared in all 28 games last season and showed flashes of how dominating he could be. Pfohl, a 6'7 forward from Atlanta, was hampered early in the season by mononucleosis and got into 18 games.

The remaining carry-over players, both guards are Michael Slonaker, a 6'1" junior from Macon and Micalvin Hammonds, a 6'0" junior from Whigham, Georgia, provide depth.

Four newcomers should spice things up for the Bears. That group includes 6'3 transfer Montavious Waters, 6'7" transfer Hrvoje Pervan, 6'2" freshman signee Caleb Skogen and 6'1" redshirt freshman Emmanuel Holloway. Waters transferred to Mercer from the University of South Florida last January and won't be eligible until after the fall semester. The Albany, Georgia native was ranked as the number one point guard in Georgia for the 2003-2004 season when he averaged 19.5 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists per game at Westover High School. Pervan comes to Mercer from Eastern Arizona Junior College. He averaged 10.5 points, 4.8 assists, shot 55% from the field and 38% from three-point land for the 19-11 Gila Monsters during the 2004-05 season. Caleb Skogen is the younger brother of Mercer junior Jacob Skogen. He averaged 19 points and eight assists a game at Tennessee Temple High School as a senior. Holloway sat out last season as a redshirt and should be a factor because of his familiarity with the system. He has impressive credentials from his high school career at Cartersville where he averaged 18.8 points, six rebounds and eight assists as a senior.

The Bears face a difficult schedule which features just 11 home games. In addition to a grueling 20 game slate in the new-look Atlantic Sun Conference, Mercer will be on the road for games at national powers Oklahoma State and Colorado, an appearance in the UT-Chattanooga tournament and a date at traditional rival Georgia Southern. Home and home games with Savannah State round out the 27 game regular season schedule.

The 20 conference games will feature first time home and home games with new league members East Tennessee State, the University of North Florida and Kennesaw State. The Bears have played ETSU just once previously and have never met North Florida or Kennesaw State on the hardwood.