Mercer’s Phillip Leonard is pressured by Tennessee’s Robert Hubbs III, left, and Willie Carmichael III during an NCAA college basketball game against Tennessee in Knoxville on Monday, Dec. 22, 2014. Tennessee won 64-54.
Tennessee’s Devon Baulkman shoots against Mercer during an NCAA college basketball game in Knoxville, Tenn., Monday, Dec. 22, 2014. Tennessee won 64-54.KNOXVILLE — This was the Devon Baulkman that Tennessee was hoping it would have this basketball season.
The junior college transfer finally emerged when the Volunteers needed him the most.
After back-to-back 10-point games, Baulkman scored 22 points and keyed the decisive spurt in the second half as Tennessee fought off Mercer and won 64-54 in front of 13,093 at Thompson-Boling Arena on Monday night.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Baulkman said after hitting seven of his nine shots, making four 3-pointers and adding six rebounds and two steals in the win, “but I just knew if I stayed with it and had the right mindset, eventually it would show.”
The 6-foot-5 guard from Georgia appeared to have a chance to be one of Tennessee’s starters on the wing during the preseason, but a shoulder injury knocked him out of practice and forced him to miss the season-opening loss to Virginia Commonwealth.
Baulkman, a former Southern Mississippi signee who followed coach Donnie Tyndall from the Golden Eagles to Tennessee, revealed after the game that he has a torn ligament in his left (non-shooting) shoulder and will have surgery following the season.
“I certainly don’t expect him to get 22 every night, but I thought he’d be a guy that could average eight, nine, 10 a game for us,” Tyndall said. “He certainly is a guy that’s capable of making 3s.
“Our team hasn’t shot the ball collectively great from behind the line, and he’s a guy that I thought once he got his rhythm and got himself in game shape, because he missed about a week and a half of practice November, that he could do that. I always say with junior college guys it takes about a semester. Usually these guys start turning the corner about January.
“Kevin Punter’s probably an exception because he’s such a professional in everything he does, but DB’s turning the corner, and that’s obviously going to help our team.”
While lifting weights earlier this season, Baulkman aggravated an injury from his days at Gulf Coast State College in Florida, where he scored 48 points in one game last season.
“It just helped me to fight through it and push myself even more,” he said. “It’s just bettered me as a man. When I get 100 percent, there’s going to be better games. It motivated me to keep grinding and keep going hard and (reminded me) everything was going work out.”
The Vols (6-4) needed all of his 22 points Monday.
With Tennessee struggling early against Mercer — the Bears lost six seniors from a team that beat Duke and fell to Tennessee in the round of 32 in last season’s NCAA tournament — Baulkman hit a pair of 3s and dunked in transition to finish the first half with eight points.
Tennessee outscored the Bears (6-6) 19-2 over the final 9:12 of the half, including a 10-0 run in the final 1:52 during which the Vols scored six points on one trip when Mercer coach Bob Hoffman was slapped with a technical foul, to take a 27-15 lead into the break.
Ike Nwamu, who scored 30 points and netted 13 of Mercer’s 15 first-half points, was the only Bear to hit a field goal in the first half as the Bears shot just 18 percent and suffered through seven scoreless minutes.
“We just picked the (defensive) intensity up a little bit,” Vols guard Josh Richardson said. “The other team started falling back some, and we took advantage. We could feel they were bringing the ball up slower, and I thought we were getting in their heads a little bit.”
Tennessee’s lead reached 14 points before the Bears began chipping away, and Nwamu’s free throw with 9:04 left made it 43-39 when Baulkman had his saving stretch.
He drilled a corner 3 off an inbounds pass, made a layup 21 seconds later after coming up with a steal in Tennessee’s press and capped his own 7-0 run with a putback that pushed the Vols’ lead back to 51-40.
“It was a great moment,” he said. “It was something I always dreamed about. I’m going to continue to keep grinding and being humble and get better each and every day and compete with my teammates.”
Baulkman is 8-of-11 on 3-pointers in Tennessee’s last three games.
“He was fantastic,” Tyndall said.
“He did other things,” the coach added, “and I always try to tell these young guys if you get your hands on balls in different ways, whether it’s deflections or steals or rebounds, it’s amazing how your offense will start clicking. I think that was the case for him tonight.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.