Recap: Tennessee vs. Mercer

Knoxville, TN (Sports Network) - Travis Smith finished with 25 points as the seventh-seeded Mercer Bears pulled off a 75-67 upset of the second-seeded Tennessee Volunteers in the opening round of the 2013 National Invitational Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Langston Hall added 16 points and seven assists for Mercer (24-11), which will take on BYU in the second round. Daniel Coursey chimed in with 15 points and Jakob Gollon provided 12 in the win.

Trae Golden paced Tennessee (20-13) in the setback with 20 points. Jarnell Stokes registered a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Mercer came out of the gates with a spark as it hit on 53.8 percent of its field goal attempts including 4-of-10 from 3-point range to take a 34-28 lead into the intermission. The Volunteers fell behind after they sank only 30.3 percent of their shots from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

The Bears extended their lead to 10 in the second half as they drained 14- of-18 at the free-throw line after the break. Tennessee lost by eight points after it missed seven of its 19 attempts at the charity stripe in the period.

The Volunteers lost despite holding a 40-29 edge in the rebounding battle. Since Kentucky was upset by Robert Morris on Tuesday night, both of the SEC teams in the NIT field have been eliminated.