Jelks has key basket, board in Mercer's 1st-round SoCon win

Mar 4, 2016, 11:21 pm

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Stephon Jelks drove for a layup with five seconds left to help seventh-seeded Mercer grab a 71-69 win over No. 10 seed The Citadel onFriday night in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament.

Warren Sledge had a chance to tie for The Citadel, but the front end of the one-and-one rolled off the rim with two seconds left and Jelks wrapped up the rebound. Jelks scored four points with eight rebounds and his game-winner came on a pretty pass from Ethan Stair, who finished with eight points and four assists.

Mercer (19-13) advances to meet No. 2 seed Eastern Tennessee in Saturday's quarterfinals.

Derrick Henry scored 16 points and Quayson Williams 14, including four 3-pointers, to led The Citadel (10-22), which committed 11 turnovers, was outrebounded 43-36 and had seven shots blocked.

Andrew Fishler blocked four shots for Mercer.