Duncan Mercer didn’t panic when his Southeastern team trailed Northeastern 16-0.

“It was pretty surprising they were making everything,” Mercer said. “But I knew if we just kept playing like we’re used to playing we’d be fine. That’s what we did.”

Mercer didn’t panic in the final minute either after the Trojans fell behind for the first time since the start of the second half. Instead, he assisted on the go-ahead basket, grabbed two important rebounds and made two free throws to lift the Trojans to a 45-42 Ohio Heritage Conference victory Wednesday night at Northeastern.

“I can’t say I played harder, but it was more important obviously,” Mercer said of the final minute. “You have to be more aggressive.”

Daniel Lenk, who scored a team-high 17 points, attacked the basket aggressively for Northeastern and made two free throws to give the Jets a 42-41 lead with 46 seconds left.

Mercer attacked the lane on the other end but passed to an open Zane Grove at the 3-point line. Grove’s shot was short, but Mercer grabbed the rebound and passed to James South for the go-ahead basket with 19 seconds left. After Lenk was denied on another drive, Mercer grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 4.6 seconds left. He made both free throws to finish with 15 points and 7-of-8 at the line.

“I love it,” Mercer said of shooting pressure free throws. “I love having the game in my hands. I was pretty calm.”

Northeastern (3-5, 3-3 OHC) had a chance to tie, but the best shot Lenk could get was an off-balance 3-pointer from the top of the key that bounced off the front of the rim.

The Jets started by hitting 4 of 5 3-pointers to take a 16-0 lead with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

“We start games off real well, but we’ve had trouble stemming the tide of other teams’ runs,” Northeastern coach Chad Mossing said. “They played probably one of their best games. But if you look back why we lost it was probably on the defensive end.”

The Trojans began their comeback when first-year coach Brad Greene turned to full-court pressure to get a couple of turnovers and get the Jets out of their early comfort zone. By the end of the first quarter The Trojans trailed 20-13 before going to halftime down 24-23. P.J. Banion scored 10 of his 17 points in the first half and Mercer had eight.

“Getting into the kind of shots we wanted, and getting back into the game through the press was huge for us,” Greene said. “They were just comfortably coming down and running their offense, and we can’t let a team do that.”

Southeastern (4-4, 3-3) has won three straight since Greene left behind a faster pace of play for a more controlled half-court game.

“We had a lot of returning guys and I thought maybe we could change the pace, but we just turned the basketball over too much,” Greene said. “Now we’re slowing it down and the guys are more comfortable.”