sentences:  But coach Stan Heath kept Mercer on scholarship, hoping he would stick around and earn his degree, and after Mercer graduated in August 2009 and fulfilled the legal requirements of a pretrial intervention program to get a misdemeanor drug charge dropped, Heath took a chance by allowing Mercer back on the team for the 2009–10 season.Heath's decision paid dividends, as Mercer became a key part of the Bulls' emergence in 2009–10.In February 2010, Mercer expressed how grateful he was to be part of a team making a run at the NCAA Tournament