Cameron Mercer’s name always gets a little extra attention. His dad Ron was a star at Oak Hill, Va. in high school and in college at Kentucky. He played for a handful of NBA teams, including the Bulls.
But at this point in late January of his senior year at Riverside-Brookfield, the name doesn’t matter much. Mercer is like every lead guard at every high school in the state. He wants to help his team win and find the right college spot.
The Bulldogs overcame a terrible start to beat Glenbard South 53-46 on Thursday in Glen Ellyn, largely thanks to an early third-quarter push from Mercer.
Riverside-Brookfield missed its first 15 shots and made just one shot of its first 21. The Bulldogs (16-5, 7-1 Upstate Eight East) didn’t manage a field goal in the first quarter and trailed 17-5 early in the second quarter. Riverside-Brookfield coach Mike Reingruber figures it was the worst start for any team in his 29 years of coaching.
“We certainly did not bring our A game to start,” Reingruber said. “Some of that had to do with them, some had to do with us. But we are happy to weather the storm and walk out with the win.”
The Bulldogs pulled within 20-15 at halftime and Mercer, a 6-2 guard, opened the second half with a 7-0 personal run to give his team a 22-20 lead.
“Every game is not going to be pretty,” Mercer said. “Some games you are going to struggle. This was one where we struggled but then came back together and one.
“My mindset as a leader of the team is to try and bring the energy. I didn’t like how we started. At halftime I knew we had to do something. My mentality was to come out and answer as quickly as I could and not wait until the fourth quarter.”
Mercer finished with 24 points and seven rebounds.
“He’s been playing so well lately,” Reingruber said. “He’s a college player. I’ve coached them before and I know he’s at that level.”
Glenbard South (15-7, 4-3) came back and took small leads multiple times in the third quarter and early fourth quarter. Riverside-Brookfield’s Noah VanTholen, a 6-4 sophomore guard, gave the Bulldogs the lead for good on two free throws with 3:30 to play. Then VanTholen came up with a key steal and fastbreak dunk to put the Bulldogs ahead 47-43.
“They did that same action a few times,” VanTholen said. “So, I stuck my hand out and got it. I was trying to get us some momentum, so I went up for the dunk. That was a big play for us down the stretch.”
VanTholen scored 12 points. Senior Colin Cimino added 11 points and nine rebounds for Riverside-Brookfield.
“The last two games before this we were playing some of our best basketball,” Reingruber said. “We’ve won eight straight now and I like the direction we are headed. Sticking together through the bad is the sign of a good team and I think we are a really good team.”
Senior guard Amir Jackson led Glenbard South with 14 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Johnathan Hadley scored 12 points and PJ Lehr added 10 for the Raiders.
“We have made huge strides since the beginning of the year,” Glenbard South coach Jason Mead said. “We just haven’t gotten over that hump to beat good teams. It’s the turnovers. But our kids play really hard. We just need to stop turning the ball over.”
