In the first quarter, the teams played to a near tie, with Rocky Grove trailing 12-14. The second quarter got off to a slow start with the Grove's Blayne Baker connecting for two at the 5:36 mark to tie the game up. Mercer quickly answered and Alex Zinz tied it up again at 16-16. For the next four minutes, Mercer dominated the offensive play and started to pull away from the Orioles. At the half, the score was 18-28 Mercer.
Despite Rocky Grove's efforts to mix things up in the second half by giving nearly everyone on the bench some playing time, Mercer continued to control the flow of the game. By the end of the third quarter, the Mustangs had a commanding lead of 25-50.
Rocky Grove continued to play hard through the last seconds of the fourth but was only able to shave the deficit by four, with Schiffer Anderson scoring seven of his nine points in the final stanza.
Baker led the Orioles with 12 points. Anderson had nine. Quinn Ritchey scored six points on a pair of three pointers. D'Andre Whitman scored five points. Zinz had three on the night. Landon Carter and Josh Stevenson had two apiece.
Rocky Grove is now even on the season at 5-5. Next up on their schedule is a Tuesday home game against Reynolds. Their first region contest will be on the road at West Middlesex next Friday.