Mercer shocks Duke

Published 3:27 pm Saturday, March 22, 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. — Dunk City is long gone. Make way for the next bunch of bracket busters from the little-known Atlantic Sun Conference: Mercer.

The 8,300-student school from Macon, Ga., delivered the biggest shocker in an already topsy-turvy NCAA tournament on Friday, going into Duke’s backyard and knocking off the No. 3 seed Blue Devils 78-71.

“This,” Atlantic Sun player of the year Langston Hall said, “is what March Madness is all about.”

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The 14th-seeded Bears — with a starting lineup of five seniors — came back from five points down in the last 4:52 as Duke’s offense collapsed.

They sent home one of the true blue-blood programs, coached by Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski and starring freshman Jabari Parker, sure to be one of the top NBA picks this year. Mercer is coached by former Oklahoma Baptist player Bob Hoffman, who has banged around the coaching ranks from women’s teams to the American Basketball Association to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Developmental League.

Next up: 11th-seeded Tennessee, which upset sixth-seeded Massachusetts 86-67, today in the third round.

Jakob Gollon scored 20 points and Daniel Coursey 17, overcoming 15 Duke 3-pointers.