MACON, Ga. (AP) - Ian Clark scored 16 points as Belmont defeated Mercer 62-61 Saturday in the teams' regular-season finale.
The Bruins (24-7, 16-2 Atlantic Sun Conference), who have won their last 11 games, are seeded first for the conference tournament and will play eighth-seeded Jacksonville on Wednesday. The second-seeded Bears (21-10, 13-5), who will host the tournament, play Wednesday night, facing seventh-seeded Lipscomb.
Mick Hedgepeth's free throw with 14 seconds remaining provided Belmont's margin of victory after Reece Chamberlain's two free throws at the 31-second mark lifted the Bruins into a tie.
Mercer led 45-36 with 12:50 remaining, but Belmont rallied to go ahead 52-51 on Scott Saunders' layup with 5:21 left.
Daniel Coursey's dunk gave Mercer a 61-59 lead with 1:10 left.
Drew Hanlen finished with 12 points and Saunders 10 for Belmont.
Justin Cecil scored 17 points and Langston Hall 13 to lead Mercer.
| Scoreboard | |||
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
| Belmont (24-7) « | 27 | 35 | 62 |
| Mercer (21-10) | 27 | 34 | 61 |
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| Belmont Bruins | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| M. Hedgepeth, F | 28 | 2-9 | 2-5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| I. Clark, G | 38 | 6-13 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| D. Hanlen, G | 38 | 4-7 | 1-2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| J. Mann, G | 32 | 2-10 | 2-2 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| A. Barnes, G | 17 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| R. Chamberlain | 21 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| B. Baker | 14 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Saunders | 10 | 4-5 | 2-3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| T. Noack | 2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 22-51 | 9-16 | 35 | 10 | 15 | 62 | |
| 43.1% | 56.3% | ||||||
| Mercer Bears | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| J. Gollon, F | 28 | 2-7 | 1-2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| J. Cecil, F | 25 | 6-13 | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| B. Thomas, F | 25 | 1-4 | 0-3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| D. Coursey, F | 24 | 4-7 | 0-1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| L. Hall, G | 32 | 5-8 | 2-2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| T. Smith | 19 | 1-1 | 3-5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| M. Brown | 15 | 3-5 | 3-4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| K. Canevari | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Smith | 8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| T. Hallice | 7 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| D. Moten | 6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Harris | 3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 23-50 | 9-17 | 31 | 11 | 19 | 61 | |
| 46% | 52.9% | ||||||
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