GREENWOOD – Ford "Scooter" Lawrence scored 20 points to lead the Lander Bearcats to a home-opening 65-52 non-conference victory over Emmanuel College Saturday afternoon at Finis Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 1-1 on the season while the Lions dropped to 3-2.
Houston Wright added 11 points for the Bearcats, Justin Mann had a team-high nine rebounds, while Lawrence paced Lander with seven assists.
Tedrick Hudson led Emmanuel with 11 points while Jeremy Tate led the visitors with eight rebounds.
The Bearcats were able to expand a slim lead by hitting eight of 16 3-pointers in the second half.
Lander was holding a 30-28 lead early in the second half when Wright hit a pair of 3-pointers and Lawrence added one to expand the lead to 39-31. Travis Allison hit a 3-pointer for a 46-37 advantage at the 10-minute mark. After the Lions closed within 46-42, Scottie Smith nailed a 3-pointer and Dane Sparrow added a basket to push Lander's lead back to nine at 51-42 with six minutes to go.
Emmanuel continued to battle and cut its deficit to 54-48. But Lawrence, with the shot clock winding down, hit an off-balance jumper and then added a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats their biggest lead of the game at 59-48 at the 3:25 mark. After Lander's Curtis Milner blocked a shot, Wright hit a 3-pointer to make it 62-50 with 1:40 to go. The Bearcats added three free throws to nail down the victory.
Emmanuel got off to a fast start with Ronny Weihmann's 3-pointer giving the Lions an 11-0 lead with 15:30 left. But Lander went on a 14-2 run, taking a 14-13 lead on Mann's 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 10:50 mark.
The lead changed hands several times before Lawrence gave the Bearcats the lead for good at 25-24 with a 3-pointer from the left corner with 3:05 to go. Brenton Harris's dunk in the final minute gave Lander a 28-24 halftime lead. The Bearcats were ahead despite making only four of 18 shots in the first half from behind the arc.
For the game, Lander made 21 of 61 shots from the floor (34 percent), 11 of 14 from the free-throw line (79 percent), and 12 of 34 from 3-point range (35 percent). Emmanuel hit 20 of 58 shots from the floor (35 percent), eight of 12 free throws (67 percent), and four of 14 from behind the arc (29 percent). The Bearcats had a 40-38 rebounding edge.
