GREENWOOD – Craig Williams scored a game-high 27 points including a layup at the buzzer to lift Erskine College to a 65-63 victory over Lander in a non-conference men's basketball game Monday night at Horne Arena.
Erskine improved to 4-2 while the Bearcats fell to 3-4. Lander still leads the all-time series 43-32.
Jason Davis scored a career-high 20 points for Lander while Emanuel Hodrea and Darius Johnson added 10 points apiece. Michael Griffin led the Bearcats with six assists while Hodrea led them in rebounds with six. Davis' previous career high was 15 points against Tusculum on Nov. 19, 2004.
Williams dominated the paint, making 9 of 13 shots from the floor and 9 of 11 free throws. The senior center also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. T.J. Taylor added 13 points for Erskine, including several key baskets in the second half when he scored 12 points.
Erskine had a big advantage at the free-throw line, hitting 16 of 20 from the stripe while the Bearcats made 4 of 5.
Lander's Jarred Jackson hit a 3-pointer from the left side with 32 seconds left to tie the game at 63. It was the team's only basket in the last five-plus minutes of the game.
With the shot clock off, Erskine played for the final shot. The Fleet's Jason Winecoff drove toward the paint with under five seconds left and found a cutting Williams under the basket for the game-winner off the glass. It was Winecoff's sixth assist of the game.
The Bearcats led by as many as 13 early in the second half, 41-28, on a basket by Davis with 17:38 left. But Erskine got back into the game with a 15-4 run capped by a basket by Taylor that pulled the Fleet within 45-43 with 13:10 to go.
From that point on, Lander maintained leads anywhere from one point to seven. Griffin scored with 5:31 left to give the Bearcats a 60-54 lead and they would not score again until Jackson's 3-pointer.
Brandon Wright hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to pull Erskine within 60-59 with 4:11 left to go. Taylor gave the Fleet its first lead since it was 10-9 when, with the shot clock winding down, he knifed inside for a layup to make it 61-60 with 3:04 left.
Williams scored a layup with 55 seconds to go off a pass from Winecoff to push Erskine's lead to 63-60 before Jackson's game-tying shot.
Lander rode the hot shooting of Davis to a 32-24 halftime lead. The senior point guard had 13 points in the first half on 5-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc.
The Bearcats used a 19-5 run to turn a 10-9 deficit with 13:21 left to a 28-15 lead at the 6:42 mark. Johnson scored six points, Davis and Dane Sparrow had five points apiece, and Hodrea hit a 3-pointer during the run.
The Flying Fleet responded with seven unanswered points, including five free throws, to pull within 28-22 with 2:10 to go before the break.
For the game, Lander made 25 of 50 shots from the floor (50 percent), 4 of 5 from the line (80 percent), and 9 of 26 from behind the arc (35 percent). Erskine made 22 of 47 shots (47 percent), 16 of 20 free throws (80 percent), and 5 of 12 from 3-point land (42 percent). Each team had 27 rebounds while the Fleet had only nine turnovers. Lander had 13 turnovers.
