ROCK HILL, S.C. – A second-half rally led to the Winthrop Eagles forcing overtime against the Mercer Bears. It was in OT when Mercer fell short in Winthrop Coliseum, 88-85.
 
Felipe Haase scored a career-high 41 points and had 10 rebounds in the losing effort.
 
Mercer (0-2, 0-0 SoCon) performed well in the first half. Haase and Neftali Alvarez combined for 30 points and six rebounds in the first 20 minutes. The Bears had excellent assistance off the glass from James Glisson III with four boards in the first and three combined assists from Kamar Robertson and Jovan Tucker. The Bears entered the half with lead, 38-27.
 
Haase continued his hot streak in the second half. Haase shot 8-from-10 from the field and an impressive 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Haase and Alvarez combined for 36 more points in the next 20 minutes. Glisson III added six more points for the Bears along with seven rebounds. Haase, Alvarez and Glisson combined for 14 more rebounds in the second half. Robertson came off the bench and played valuable minutes and helped control the speed of the game with seven rebounds and two assists on the day.
 
Winthrop (2-0, 0-0) at the end of regulation came back from being down nine with under a minute to go to force overtime. The Eagles’ Pat Good pulled up from deep and hit a 3 to tie the game at 80.
 
The Bears and Eagles were back and forth in OT as there were multiple lead changes. It was a 3-pointer by Cory Hightower that put the Eagles ahead and would eventually earn them the win. 
 
Mercer hosts Life University on Nov. 16.
 
 NOTABLES
•            Haase almost doubled his career high single game points from 23 to 41 along with 10 rebounds.
•            The Bears shot 50 percent from the field in the overall game. 
•            Haase and Alvarez combined for 69 points. 
•            Glisson III pulled down eight boards for the Bears.
•            Alvarez had six assists.