Southern Conference tournament schedule is set; Calloway earns POW honors again
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Mercer opens defense of its Southern Conference women’s basketball title on day one of the conference tournament, while the men are in the final game of the first round.
Standings-Women
Mercer 14 - 0 22 - 7
Furman 9 - 5 17 - 12
Chattanooga 8 - 6 13 - 16
ETSU 8 - 6 10 - 20
Wofford 7 - 7 15 - 14
UNCG 5 - 9 11 - 18
Samford 5 - 9 10 - 19
W. Carolina 0 - 14 4 - 25
Tournament-Women
Thursday
11 a.m.: No. 1 Mercer vs. No. 8 Western Carolina
1:15 p.m.: No. 4 ETSU vs. No. 5 Wofford
3:30 p.m.: No. 2 Furman vs. No. 7 Samford
5:45 p.m.: No. 3 Chattanooga vs. No. 6 UNCG
Friday
11 a.m.: Mercer/WCU winner vs. ETSU/Wofford winner
1:15 p.m.: Furman/Samford winner vs. Chattanooga/UNCG winner
Standings-Men
Wofford 18 - 0 26 - 4
UNCG 15 - 3 26 - 5
Furman 13 - 5 24 - 6
ETSU 13 - 5 23 - 8
Chattanooga 7 - 11 12 - 19
Samford 6 - 12 16 - 15
Mercer 6 - 12 11 - 19
The Citadel 4 - 14 12 - 17
VMI 4 - 14 10 - 20
W. Carolina 4 - 14 7 - 24
Tournament-Men
Friday (ESPN+)
5 p.m.: No. 8 VMI vs. No. 9 Western Carolina, 5 p.m.
7:30 p.m.: No. 7 Samford vs. No. 10 The Citadel, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday (ESPN+/Nexstar)
12 p.m.: No.1 Wofford vs. VMI/WCU winner
2:30 p.m.: No. 4 ETSU vs. No. 5 Chattanooga
6 p.m.: No.2 UNCG vs. Samford/The Citadel winner
8:30 p.m.: No. 3 Furman vs. No. 6 Mercer
Mercer’s women face eighth-seeded Western Carolina at 11 a.m. on Thursday at U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C., while the sixth-seeded men face third-seeded Furman at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The women are 22-7, and won their 34th straight conference game on Saturday with a 65-59 win over Wofford. The Bears have cracked the 20-win mark in six of the last seven seasons.
Their last regular-season conference loss was Feb. 2, 2016, 70-50 at Chattnooga, which is also the last Southern Conference team to beat Mercer, 61-59 on March 5, 2017 in the conference tournament championship.
Mercer beat Western Carolina 69-67 and 71-55 this season.
The Bears are looking for their fourth straight trip to the tournament championship game.
The men finished the season in rough fashion, with a 84-71 loss Thursday at VMI and a 74-47 loss Saturday at home to UNC Greensboro.
The 47 points were Mercer’s fewest points of the season, and lowest total since a 90-47 loss at Clemson on Dec. 10, 2016.
The final two games’ margins were the largest and third-largest margins of defeat. Saturday was Mercer’s first loss of more than 19 points this year.
The 11 wins are the men’s fewest under Bob Hoffman, and this is only the third losing season in his 10 years at Mercer.
The Bears lost 71-58 at Furman to open conference play and lost 74-63 at home. Furman is the only conference team to beat Mercer by double figures in both games, and one of only four teams to sweep the Bears.
Photo: Mercer
Calloway takes final POW honor of the season
Mary Persons grad KeKe Calloway is the final Southern Conference women’s basketball player of the week for the season.
The senior won her third honor of the year by averaging 19 points and 7.5 assists in wins over Furman and Wofford.
She enters the postseason third in the SoCon with 17.8 points a game and is tied for second with 3.9 assists. Calloway is second in assist turnover ratio and minutes played.