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MACON, Ga. -- The Samford University basketball team turned in a season-high, 56.5-percent shooting performance from 3-point range Monday, and finished with five players scoring in double figures, but came up short in an 88-79 regular-season finale against the Mercer Bears in Southern Conference play held at Hawkins Arena.
 
Samford (17-14, 8-10 SoCon), which will be the No. 7 seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament, will face No. 10-seed VMI on Friday at 6:30 p.m. (CT) The 10-team, four-day competition will be held at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, N.C.
 
Mercer (15-16, 9-9 SoCon) received a career-high 32 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field from junior guard Jordan Strawberry to buoy the Bears to their seventh straight win against Samford. Strawberry also added seven rebounds, seven assists and a steal.
 
The Bulldogs, who held their largest lead of the game, 29-24, with four minutes remaining in the first half, were paced by Demetrius Denzel-Dyson's 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Samford's junior sharpshooter from Covington, Tennessee, finished 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and upped his team-high 3-point shooting percentage to 48.7 this season.
 
As a team Monday, the Bulldogs shot a sizzling 56.5 percent from long range. Samford connected on 13-of-23 shots from beyond the arc against Mercer.
 
The Bears shot 33.3 percent from long range, but outrebounded the Bulldogs, 41-24, and bested Samford in points off turnovers, 16-2.
 
Denzel-Dyson paced five Bulldogs in double figures with a team-high 24 points. Triston Chambers came off the bench to add 14 points and four 3-point baskets, while Alex Thompson, Wyatt Walker and Christen Cunningham added 12, 11 and 10, respectively.
 
Cunningham continued to turn in impressive assist numbers Monday. The Bulldogs' junior point guard handed out 10 assists against the Bears and reached the 200-assist mark on the year.
 
Samford's previous single-season record in the category was 151. Cunningham also owns the all-time career record with 453, as a junior.
 
Strawberry, the son of former Major League Baseball player Darryl Strawberry, scored 22 of his career-high 32 points in the second half. Down the stretch, he kept the Bulldogs at bay by knocking down a perfect 14-of-14 attempts from the free-throw line.
 
In the final SoCon standings, ETSU, Furman and UNCG shared the regular season crown. UNCG earned the top seed by virtue of the league's tiebreaker procedures. The Paladins garnered the second seed, while ETSU is seeded third. 
 
The tournament will begin Friday at 4 p.m. (CT) when No. 8 Western Carolina faces No. 9 The Citadel. The Catamounts pulled off a season sweep during the two regular season meetings.  The winner of that opening-round game advances to face UNCG Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
The second game Friday will see seventh-seeded Samford take on VMI. The Bulldogs claimed both regular-season contests. That winner will square off against Furman on Saturday at 5 p.m.
 
Saturday's schedule features four quarterfinal games beginning at 11 a.m. The second semifinal of the day is set to tip at 1:30 p.m., and will be between No. 4 Chattanooga and No. 5 Wofford. The evening session begins at 5 p.m., when Furman takes on the winner of Friday night's second game. The fourth quarterfinal on Saturday is between No. 3 ETSU and No. 6 Mercer. 
 
Sunday's first semifinal is set for 4 p.m., with the second game scheduled to tip at approximately 6:30 p.m.
 
Friday's opening round, Saturday's quarterfinals and Sunday's semifinals will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.  Monday's championship game will tip off at 6 p.m., and can be seen on ESPN2.
 
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Box Score
Samford Stats
SoCon Tournament Bracket