The Third Half: We Were Witnesses

J. Andrew Lockwood
Senior Editor / Columnist

A major sneaker company launched a huge marketing campaign only a year or two ago that focused on the phrase, ‘We Are Witnesses.’ It was supposed to be the type of campaign that reflects watching athletic greatness, specifically in basketball. Statistical achievements, incredible plays, and re-defining a sport seem to carry the ‘witness’ persona, but I found myself being a ‘witness’ to something I thought I’d see in my college years here at Mercer.

James Florence, Daniel Emerson, and E.J. Kusnyer, the three starting seniors on Mercer’s men’s basketball team, came within points of advancing to the NCAA tournament. Their battles against Belmont, Jacksonville, and ETSU in the Atlantic Sun Tournament were epic, nail-biting contests that came down to the final few seconds.

Although they didn’t make NCAA or any other postseason tournament for that matter, the way they went out was indicative of their style of play for the past few years. Flo, Emerson, and Kusnyer as well as the rest of the men’s team could be described as ‘late-season warriors.’

For Florence, he battled through a high ankle sprain just two weeks before the tournament kicked off to return to the quarterfinals against Belmont at nearly full strength. For Emerson, a blood clot behind his eye sidelined him for a good portion of a late season road trip to Belmont. Fighting through various nagging injuries and despite little time practicing with the team, Emerson sported a pair of goggles in the tournament as he made his presence know in the post. Kusnyer kept shooting the three-ball as the season wore on despite going through hot and cold streaks. By the A-Sun tournament, Kusnyer was the #1 three-point shooter in the NCAA with the most 3-point field goals made this season.

While Emerson and Kusnyer were two year starters after transferring in from Western Kentucky and Collins County Community College (Texas) respectively, they gave Mercer a much needed shot in the arm when the university hired on new head coach Bob Hoffman to lead James Florence and a group of talented role players.

We knew how great Florence would be from the day he first stepped foot on the hardwood for the Bears. 39 points against Jacksonville as a freshman was only a sign of things to come. Florence, of course, went through his share of struggles too at Mercer. There was the Jacksonville-Mercer homecoming brawl in 2007 in which he received a two-game suspension. Then there were the murmurs around the University Center that Florence was turning into a shoot-first, pass-second player that single handedly won and lost games for the Bears during the 2008-09 season.

But as we all seem to grow up during our college years, we got to witness the growth of Mercer’s all-time leading scorer, Mercer’s most dominant big-man in the past decade, and Mercer’s best three-point shooter all within the last few years. From raw talent with un-channeled emotion to a group of brothers that brought the entire Macon community to their feet countless times during their final few games, we’re going to miss these guys.

It may take a few years for us to fully appreciate what we see, what we witnessed, but even though we feel short of our postseason expectations, we truly got to see three of the best players in college basketball here at Mercer. It will take time for the memories of those last three tournament games to sink in, but what we witnessed was a team of committed players who were fatigued to their limit yet played off of the adrenaline generated by the crowd, by their love of the game, and by their love for one another. I’m glad I was in the front row to witness it.