GREENWOOD – Presbyterian's Drew Biggs hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime and Grant Herren made two free throws with 28 seconds left in OT, giving the Blue Hose a 60-59 non-conference men's basketball victory over Lander Saturday night at Horne Arena.
Presbyterian improved to 3-0 while the Bearcats fell to 3-2. PC won both its games against Lander this season.
Jarred Jackson led Lander with 18 points, Michael Griffin added 13 points, Emanuel Hodrea had nine rebounds, and Curtis Milner blocked five shots.
Sean Dixon led PC with 17 points, Herren scored 15 points, and Martynas Versinskas added 15 points and eight rebounds. The Blue Hose outrebounded Lander, 45-24, and made 11 more free throws (15-4).
The Bearcats led almost the entire second half, building a 29-19 advantage with the first basket of the second half and having seven-point leads at the 8:40, 7:53, 6:27 and 5:25 marks.
But the Blue Hose battled back with Herren scoring off an offensive rebound to pull them within 51-50 with 2:08 to go. Lander's Jason Davis scored on a runner in the lane to push the lead to 53-50 with 42 seconds left. But Biggs took a pass from Dixon in the right corner and buried the game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds to go.
Griffin scored an off-balance basket in the lane and added a steal and layup to give the Bearcats a 57-54 lead with 3:20 left in overtime. After Dixon's 3-pointer tied the game at 57 with 2:55 to go, Scottie Smith dunked off a Griffin miss to put Lander back on top, 59-57, at the 2:17 mark.
Milner's fifth block of the game, with 1:59 to go, didn't help the Bearcats as PC got the rebound. Herren was fouled and hit a free throw to pull the Blue Hose within 59-58 with 1:33 left. After Lander missed a shot, Herren went back to the line with 28 seconds left and made both free throws. Lander held for the last shot, but struggled to keep possession of the ball and eventually turned it over with three seconds left to seal the outcome.
Each team had only two field goals in the first eight minutes of the game as the score was tied at 6 at the 12:20 mark. Ryan Koppel was credited with a goal-tending basket with 11 minutes left to give PC its biggest lead of the first half at 10-6.
Jackson hit a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats their first lead of the game at 11-10 with 10:05 to go. Versinskas scored inside to put PC back in front, 12-11, at the 9:11 mark. But Lander responded with seven unanswered points when Milner scored in the paint, and Griffin hit a 3-pointer and basket for an 18-12 lead with 7:21 left.
Zach Evans had a steal and layup to push the Bearcats to a 22-14 advantage with four minutes to go. Lander's largest lead of the half was nine, 25-16, when Dane Sparrow hit a 3-pointer at the 1:25 mark. The Bearcats led 27-19 at the break.
Lander made 24 of 54 shots from the floor (44 percent), four of nine from the free-throw line (39 percent), and 7 of 18 from 3-point range (44 percent). PC hit 20 of 53 from the field (38 percent), 15 of 22 free throws (68 percent), and 5 of 20 from behind the arc (25 percent). The Blue Hose had 19 turnovers to Lander's 15.
