GREENWOOD – Emanuel Hodrea and Dane Sparrow scored 19 points apiece, leading the Lander Bearcats to their third consecutive win, a 78-57 non-conference men's basketball victory over Newberry College Friday night at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 3-1, while the Indians fell to 1-3. The Bearcats host Presbyterian College at 7 p.m. Saturday night.
Sparrow, a freshman, had a big first half for the Bearcats with 12 points and scored seven unanswered points during a key spot in the second half. Sparrow missed only one shot in the game, hitting 5-of-6 from the floor and making all six of his free throws. This coming after making 9 of 10 shots and a game-high 24 points in Lander's last game at Wingate on Nov. 21.
Hodrea, a senior, had a big second half with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 free throws.
Curtis Milner led Lander with nine rebounds and three blocked shots, while Jarred Jackson had a game-high seven assists.
Zach Chandler led Newberry with 16 points while Alonzo Hinds added 13 points.
The Indians cut a 14-point halftime deficit to nine, 47-38, on a basket by Hinds with 11:50 left in the game. But Sparrow scored inside, hit a 3-pointer, and added two free throws during a personal 7-0 run to push Lander's lead to 54-38. The Bearcats were not threatened the rest of the way.
Lander had three leads of 17 points until the final seconds. Tyler Pitt hit a long 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the game to extend the final margin to 21.
The Bearcats started out slowly, trailing 5-2 until Jackson hit a 3-pointer with 15 minutes left in the first half to tie the game at 5. Cory Etheridge's 3-pointer gave Newberry a 12-7 lead at the 12:40 mark. But Lander responded with a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 20-12 advantage with Sparrow making two 3-pointers and two free throws, and Hodrea making one 3-pointer.
Hodrea and Jackson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push Lander's lead to 30-16 with 6:17 to go, completing a 23-4 Bearcats run. The teams played to a 9-all standoff over the rest of the half and Lander led 39-25 at the intermission. Sparrow didn't miss a shot in the first half, going 3-for-3 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-2 from behind the arc, and 4-of-4 from the line. Chandler had 11 points in the first half to lead the Indians.
Lander made 24 of 54 shots from the floor (44 percent), 20 of 24 from the free-throw line (83 percent), and 10 of 28 from 3-point range (36 percent). Newberry hit 21 of 54 from the floor (39 percent), 10 of 15 free throws (67 percent), and 5 of 15 from behind the arc (33 percent). The Bearcats had a 38-31 rebounding edge.
