Last Chance: Mercier Drains Go-Ahead Three to Put Away Blazers

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) men's basketball team secured an electric 65–62 victory over Elms College on Saturday afternoon at The HUB. With the score tied in the final seconds, Chance Mercier (Ellsworth, Maine) buried a go-ahead three to lift the Seawolves to 8–5 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

SMCC trailed early but used a 10–3 run capped by back-to-back threes from Mercier to take a 12–7 lead just five minutes into the contest. The Seawolves relied on their depth throughout the half, getting solid bench minutes from Franck Moron (Billerica, Mass.) and Ebe Efosa-Aguobor (Lawrence, Mass.), who each added timely buckets to keep SMCC in front.

Ellis Macea (Lawrence, Mass.) owned the paint, crashing the offensive glass and scoring through contact. His second-chance bucket at the 6:12 mark gave SMCC a 28–20 lead. The Seawolves took a 36–31 advantage into halftime, led by 15 first-half points from Mercier.

Elms clawed back in the second, tying the game on multiple occasions behind the scoring of RJ Mayfield and DJ Watkins. But SMCC responded with a Sam DeWitt (Hudson, N.H.) three to halt a Blazers run, while Sean Bosia (Dracut, Mass.) finished an and-one layup to swing momentum.

With the game knotted at 62–62 and under 10 seconds to play, DeWitt found Mercier at the top of the key, who rose and buried his fourth triple of the day with just five seconds left. SMCC held off Elms on the final possession to lock up the win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Chance Mercier — 24 points, 4 threes, 8 rebounds, 4 assists
• Ellis Macea — Double-double 14 points, 14 rebounds, 1 block
• Sam DeWitt — 7 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds
• Sean Bosia — 5 points, 9 rebounds, and-1 bucket
• Nathan Mugisha — 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks
• SMCC out-rebounded Elms 47–37

NEXT UP

SMCC (8–5, 3–5 YSCC) is back in action after the holiday break on Sunday, Jan. 4 when they host Kennebec Valley at 2:00 PM at The HUB.