Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie scored 20 points apiece as Georgia managed to avoid an embarrassing loss by pulling out a 56-53 victory at Mercer on Thursday. Jeremy Price made the go-ahead free throw in the final minute and finished with 11 points for the Bulldogs (9-2), who struggled to a 16-of-26 night from the free throw line.

Georgia leapt out to a 15-6 lead in the first half before going cold and letting Mercer take control. The Bears ended the first half on a 23-9 run to take a 31-24 lead into the break.

Mercer (3-8) managed to keep the Bulldogs at bay in the second half until the final minutes, when Price’s layup with 1:34 on the clock tied it at 53-53. Price’s layup 38 seconds later gave Georgia its first lead of the second half. Leslie’s free throws with 2.3 seconds left sealed it.

Georgia gets two more chances to develop into a dominating squad before opening the SEC slate with Kentucky on January 8 and then hitting the road for two more conference games the next week.