Boys’ basketball: Mercer County rolls at Danville

Mercer County was a little sluggish out of the gate, but it turned things up in the third quarter to run away with a 78-56 win at Danville on Tuesday night.

The Titans, ranked No. 1 in the first Associated Press poll and fourth in the first Cantrall Ratings released, won their 15th straight game to start the season. They’re out scoring opponents 77 to 51.5. Their victory over Danville (7-7) was their 13th by double digits.

Mercer took a five-point lead into the break before outscoring the Admirals 26-10 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

“They came out and shot the ball really well,” Mercer County Coach Josh Cook said of Danville, which played the Titans to a 14-all tie in the opening quarter. “Coach (Ed) McKinney does a great job with that team. ... They played a little bit of zone that was different than the way they had played it and our guys made some adjustments at halftime, stayed focused and kind of got into a rhythm.”

Cook said Drew Davis helped spark the offense in the second quarter off the bench, finding holes in Danville’s zone and getting extra opportunies on the glass.

Will Hager, a senior who’s signed with Colorado School of Mines, finished with a game-high 21 for Mercer County. Sophomore Trevon Faulkner had 17 points for the Titans.

Darious Wilson led Danville with 16 points.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 10:14 PM.