Rivers has perfect night, Mercer tops Radford 58-47

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Demetre Rivers had 16 points and Ria'n Holland added 15 as Mercer knocked off Radford 58-47 in the opening round of the Savannah Invitational on Tuesday night.

Rivers had a perfect night, making all seven attempts from the floor, including one trey, and made both free throw attempts. Holland also had eight rebounds, two steals, and dished out four assists for Mercer (3-1). Jordan Strawberry chipped in 10 points.

Mercer took a 27-14 lead into the break and stretched that to 40-23 midway of the second half. Trailing 45-29 with 8:31 left Christian Lutete and Caleb Tanner nailed back-to-back 3-pointers and Lutete hit a jump shot and made a free throw as Radford closed to 45-38 with 4:45 left.

Mercer's Ryan Johnson answered with a 3-point jumper and the Bears pulled away to win the first meeting between the schools.

Tanner led Radford (1-3) with 12 points.