Western Carolina Catamounts (14-15, 10-8 SoCon) vs. Mercer Bears (19-12, 11-7 SoCon)
Asheville, North Carolina; Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Mercer takes on Western Carolina in the SoCon Tournament.
The Bears have gone 11-7 against SoCon teams, with an 8-5 record in non-conference play. Mercer ranks sixth in the SoCon with 13.9 assists per game led by Baraka Okojie averaging 5.4.
The Catamounts’ record in SoCon games is 10-8. Western Carolina has an 8-10 record in games decided by 10 points or more.
Mercer is shooting 46.4% from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 46.2% Western Carolina allows to opponents. Western Carolina has shot at a 44.9% clip from the field this season, 1.6 percentage points above the 43.3% shooting opponents of Mercer have averaged.
The teams meet for the third time this season. Western Carolina won 78-74 in the last matchup on Feb. 26. Cord Stansberry led Western Carolina with 21 points, and Okojie led Mercer with 22 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Okojie is scoring 19.5 points per game with 3.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists for the Bears. Zaire Williams is averaging 14 points over the last 10 games.
Tidjiane Dioumassi is averaging 8.3 points for the Catamounts. Stansberry is averaging 15.0 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Bears: 6-4, averaging 78.8 points, 31.5 rebounds, 11.8 assists, 5.5 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.8 points per game.
Catamounts: 7-3, averaging 81.2 points, 31.9 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 5.3 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
