GREENWOOD – The Lander Bearcats made 10 of their first 13 shots from 3-point range in building a 19-point lead, then held off Columbus State 79-75 in a Peach Belt Conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Horne Arena.

Lander improved to 5-5 overall and 2-1 in the Peach Belt. The Cougars dropped to 4-8, 0-2.

Houston Wright led the Bearcats with 18 points, Dane Sparrow scored 16 points, Zach Evans contributed 15 points, and Scottie Smith added 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Ford “Scooter” Lawrence paced Lander with eight assists. The 79 points were a season-high for the Bearcats.

Javarus Stewart paced Columbus State with 19 points, Travis Matthews scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, and Miguel Morton added 11 points. The Cougars made the game interesting by outscoring Lander 21-7 over the final nine minutes.

After making eight of 11 shots from behind the arc in the first half, the Bearcats extended a 13-point halftime lead to 19 twice in the early stages of the second half. Lander led 60-41 on a 3-pointer by Sparrow and 63-44 on Curtis Milner's jumper with 15:09 left. Lawrence hit a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats a 72-54 lead with 9:10 to go.

But Columbus rallied with a 15-2 run, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Stewart and Quay Holloway and a basket by Morton to close within 74-69 with 4:04 to go. The Cougars had another possession to close the gap even more but turned the ball over. Then Wright hit a long 3-pointer to give Lander a 77-69 lead at the 2:23 mark.

But Columbus kept the rally alive, closing within 77-72 on another Holloway 3-pointer with 1:55 to go. After both teams missed front ends of a one-and-one, Morton hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to pull the Cougars within 77-75 with 55 seconds left.

Wright hit a fade-away jumper with 31 seconds left to push Lander's lead to 79-75 with 31 seconds to go. Holloway missed a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left and Sparrow rebounded. Wright missed a shot in the lane with five seconds left. But Holloway missed another 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Matthews scored Columbus's first 12 points of the game on 5-of-5 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. His last trey gave the Cougars a 12-9 lead at the 15:29 mark. That's when Lander's 3-point clinic began. The Bearcats made five of six from behind the arc during a 15-2 run over a three-minute span that gave Lander a 24-14 lead with 12:37 to go. Evans and Sparrow each hit two 3-pointers while Travis Allison had one.

Sparrow and Evans would each add another 3-pointer and Lawrence added one, giving the Bearcats eight 3-pointers in the first half in 11 attempts. Evans' last trey gave Lander its biggest lead of the half at 16 points, 36-20, with 8:14 to go. Columbus got within eight, 42-34, when Matthews hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left. The Bearcats extended their lead back to double figures and were up 49-36 at halftime.

For the game, Lander made 32 of 59 shots from the floor (54 percent), three of 10 from the free-throw line (30 percent), and 12 of 18 from 3-point range (67 percent). Columbus connected on 29 of 63 shots from the floor (46 percent), seven of 16 free throws (44 percent), and 10 of 29 from behind the arc (35 percent). The Bearcats had a 39-34 edge on the boards.