Northern Kentucky Surprises A-Sun Favorite Mercer

Northern Kentucky 63

Mercer 46

Final from Highland Heights, Kentucky

Game recap by NKU:

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – On Thursday night, the man known as “Bear” around Northern Kentucky University made life miserable for an opposing team with the same nickname.


Eshaunte “Bear” Jones poured in a career-high 26 points to lead Northern Kentucky to a 63-46 win over the visiting Mercer Bears in The Bank of Kentucky Center. Jones finished 6-for-8 from 3-point range as Northern Kentucky improved to 5-11 overall, 3-5 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The senior guard also grabbed six rebounds as the Norse knocked off the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason favorite in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Ethan Faulkner and Chad Jackson each added 12 points for Northern Kentucky, which held Mercer to 34.9 percent shooting from the field. Bud Thomas led the Bears with 16 points.

Mercer (12-9 overall, 5-3 A-Sun) won at Florida State, 61-56, on Dec. 2, and the Bears also own a 66-59 victory over Alabama – the same Crimson Tide squad that defeated Kentucky earlier this week.

NKU head coach Dave Bezold laughed when asked if he could lay claim to his team being better than UK.

“It's all about matchups,” said Bezold. “We matched up pretty good here. Now would we match up the same way with Kentucky? I don't think so because they have a little more athleticism and size, but it's fun to do that. (Mercer) just beat tremendous teams and we were able to handle them here at home so it's a nice confidence boost.”

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