RJ Melendez racked up 18 points off the bench and Georgia won for the second time in three nights, defeating visiting Mercer 80-69 on Friday night in Athens, Ga.
Silas Demary Jr. and Jabri Abdur-Rahim each scored 13 points, reserve Justin Hill had 11 and Russel Tchewa posted 10 points and eight rebounds for Georgia, which shot 52.5 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs (5-3) were in good shape for most of the game and didn’t require the big comeback dramatics used Wednesday night at Florida State.
Georgia made eight of its 15 3-point attempts Friday and finished with a 39-29 rebounding advantage.
Jalyn McCreary scored 15 points, Jake Davis had 13 points off the bench, David Thomas added 11 points and Jah Quinones had 10 points for Mercer (2-5).
This was the first meeting in nearly nine years, but the Bulldogs have now won 19 in a row in the series.
Georgia stretched its lead to 47-31 early in the second half. The Bears used a 7-0 run to close within 53-42 with 12 minutes remaining.
Blue Cain’s 3-pointer for Georgia helped slow Mercer’s momentum. Demary drained a 3-pointer about three minutes later to help Georgia go up 63-49.
Melendez had a steady game with 5-for-8 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 on free throws. He made two 3s.
McCreary shot 6-for-12 from the field, but the rest of the Bears’ starters combined to shoot 9-for-23. Davis had three of Mercer’s 10 baskets from 3-point range.
Georgia steadily built a 44-31 halftime lead. That came largely by shooting 13-for-19 from the field (68.4 percent) and going 13-for-18 on free throws. Melendez had 14 points by the break.
Mercer made 12 shots from the floor in the first half, with half of those being 3-pointers. But the Bears were just 1-for-2 at the foul line.
–Field Level Media