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Bearcats rally to beat Armstrong Atlantic, 55-48

Sparrow two points away from 1,000-point milestone

Darius Johnson

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Lander men's basketball team scored the final 12 points of the game Monday night and rallied to a 55-48 Peach Belt Conference victory over Armstrong Atlantic State University in Alumni Arena.

The Bearcats improve to 9-12 overall and 4-9 in the PBC, while Armstrong Atlantic drops to 8-14, 3-10. Lander completes the season sweep of the Pirates.

Dane Sparrow scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Bearcats and only needs two more points to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Sparrow made 6-of-11 field goals, including 3-of-4 threes, and 4-of-5 free throws. Darius Johnson added 12 points and six rebounds, while Brenton Harris added eight points and six rebounds.

Chris Vanlandingham and Gabriel Robinson scored 13 points each to pace AASU, while Patrick Shokpeka and Marquise Duvall each grabbed six rebounds.

The Pirates took a 44-43 lead on Robinson's three-point play with 5:34 left to play then stretched the lead to 48-43 with 3:49 left on a layups by Robinson and Vanlandingham.

Then the rally began.

Tovi Bailey made a layup at 2:24, then Johnson connected on two free throws at 1:27 to cut the lead to 48-47. The Bearcats took the lead -- 49-48 -- on a Johnson jumper at 1:06 then the Bearcats got a field goal by Antonio Pope and two free throws each by Johnson and Sparrow to close out the game.

The Bearcats jumped out to a 9-2 first-half lead only to have AASU battle back and tie the game at 12-12 with 6:12 left in the half. Lander scored six unanswered points on baskets by Bailey, Da'Shon Barrino and Greg Smalls to take a 18-12 lead at 5:05.

But AASU battled back again to tie the game at 20-20 with 2:17 left.

Johnson and Sparrow each made two free throws to give Lander a 24-23 halftime lead.

Lander connected on 19-of-41 points for 46.3 percent, including 3-of-7 threes, and 14-of-16 free throws for 87.5 percent.

Armstrong Atlantic made 20-of-48 floor shots for 41.7 points, including 2-of-17 threes. The Pirates also sank 6-of-13 foul shots for 46.2 percent.