GREENWOOD, S.C. – This time, J.T. Greene didn't miss.
After missing a 3-pointer that could have tied Monday's game against Clayton State, Lander's Greene hit the game-winning trey with seven seconds left to give the Bearcats a 70-67 victory over UNC Pembroke in a Peach Belt Conference men's game Wednesday night at Horne Arena.
Greene took a pass from Michael Griffin and hit the jumper from just about the same spot of Monday's miss. Greene hit 7-of-13 shots from behind the arc and finished with a career-high 21 points.
Lander improved to 5-11 overall and 2-7 in the Peach Belt. The Braves fell to 4-12, 1-9.
Griffin and Jahi Rawlings added 12 points apiece. Rawlings led the Bearcats with six assists, several of them leading to Greene 3-pointers.
Jarrell Hunter led Pembroke with 17 points, Mark Salazar scored 13, and Jeffrey Brown had 11 points.
The Bearcats squandered a six-point lead in the final minute before Greene's heroics. Jawann Baker scored on a driving layup at the 1:04 mark, Scooter Lawrence scored off Lee Moore's steal with 35 seconds left, and Baker got a steal and basket with 17 seconds remaining to tie it at 67.
Trailing 37-25 at the half, the Braves opened the second half with a 13-2 run to pull within 39-38. Greene hit 3-pointers to give Lander leads of 46-40 and 49-43. Rawlings hit a trey to make it 54-46 with 10:48 to go. But Pembroke continued to battle and closed within 61-59 on a basket by Adams with 3:30 to go. Emanuel Hodrea and Jarred Jackson each put back their own misses to extend the Bearcat lead to 65-59 with 2:25 left. Rawlings hit two free throws to push Lander's lead to 67-61 with 1:38 to go before the Braves rallied.
After Lawrence's lay-up gave Pembroke a 12-11 lead with 12:50 left in the first half, the Bearcats scored nine unanswered points including Scottie Smith's dunk, Greene's 3-pointer, and Griffin's four-point play. Griffin was fouled while hitting a 3-pointer and his free throw gave Lander a 20-12 lead with 10:46 to go.
The Bearcats continued their hot streak, extending to a 16-3 run on Zoran Jelenic's bucket to make it 27-15 at the 7:55 mark. The lead grew to as many as 15 points, 34-19, before Lander settled for a 37-25 halftime advantage. Greene led the Bearcats with 12 points in the first half.
For the game, Lander made 24-of-57 shots from the floor (42 percent), 9-of-15 from the free-throw line (60 percent), and 13-of-34 from 3-point range (38 percent). Pembroke made 24-of-54 shots from the floor (44 percent), 12-of-19 free throws (63 percent), and 7-of-18 from behind the arc (39 percent).
The rebounding was about as close as the scoring with the Braves holding a 37-36 edge. Lander's Joe McEachern had a game-high nine rebounds while Smith added eight. Lawrence led Pembroke with six boards. The Bearcats committed 19 turnovers to Pembroke's 13.
