GREENWOOD – Lander had two chances to tie or take the lead in the final seconds but fell short to Armstrong Atlantic State, 65-62, in a Peach Belt Conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Horne Arena.
Armstrong improved to 14-2 overall and 7-2 in the Peach Belt. Lander fell to 8-7, 4-5.
T.T. Hall led the Pirates with 15 points, Calvin Wilson scored 12, Gabriel Robinson had 11 points, and Brian Moultrie added 10 points and nine rebounds. Armstrong had nine blocked shots with Moultrie blocking three and Robinson and Wilson two apiece.
Houston Wright led the Bearcats with 13 points while Curtis Milner, Greg Smalls and Kevin Kelley added nine points apiece. Brenton Harris added eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Wright's jumper in the paint pulled Lander within 63-62 with 1:04 left. Armstrong's Hall missed a short jumper and Smalls got the defensive rebound, giving the Bearcats a chance to take the lead for the first time since early in the second half. But Lander was called for traveling and the Pirates got the ball back with 28 seconds to go.
The Bearcats fouled Armstrong's Dwight Tolbert with 19 seconds left and he missed the front end of a one-and-one, with Harris grabbing the defensive rebound and giving Lander a chance to take the lead again.
But Smalls missed an off-balance jumper with six seconds left and Tolbert pulled down the defensive rebound, was immediately fouled, and hit both free throws to make it 65-62 with 4.2 seconds to go.
Ford "Scooter" Lawrence got the ball to Kelley off the in-bounds play, but Kelley's game-tying 3-point attempt from the left side hit the front of the rim at the buzzer.
The Pirates exploded out of the gates with a 12-3 lead highlighted by Wilson's alley-oop dunk from Hall, and 3-pointers by Wilson and Hall. Kelley's second 3-pointer of the game helped Lander pull within 16-13 with 10:55 left in the first half.
After Armstrong extended its lead to 22-15, Milner scored inside, Smalls hit a 3-pointer and Darius Johnson scored on a put-back off Uriah Hethington's blocked shot to tie the game for the first time at 22 with 5:40 to go.
The Bearcats took their first lead, 27-24, with 4:51 left on Milner's three-point play. A basket by Harris gave Lander its biggest lead of the game at five, 29-24, completing a 14-2 run.
Wright's 3-pointer from the right corner matched the largest lead at 34-29. Hall's 3-pointer pulled the Pirates within 34-32 at halftime.
Armstrong came out hot in the second half as it did in the first, scoring 12 unanswered points to rally from a 38-34 deficit into a 46-38 lead on three-point plays by Robinson and Moultrie, a four-point play by Hall, and a goal-tending basket by Wilson.
After Wilson's 3-pointer extended Armstrong's lead to 49-40, Lander scored seven unanswered points and pulled within 49-47 on Harris's put-back. Kelley's 3-pointer closed the Bearcats within 52-50 and Jacob Davis's reverse lay-up cut the deficit to two again, 54-52, at the 10:20 mark.
Lander went more than three minutes without scoring before again pulling within two, 57-55, on Lawrence's 3-pointer from the top of the key off Harris's offensive rebound with 6:51 to go.
Wright's three-point play with 4:03 left pulled the Bearcats within 59-58. Armstrong's Robinson and Lander's Smalls exchanged baskets as the visitors clung to a 61-60 lead with the game going under the three-minute mark.
Wright's steal with two minutes left gave the Bearcats a chance to take the lead. But Lander turned the ball back over on the in-bounds pass. The Pirates took advantage with Robinson getting fouled inside and making both free throws, extending their lead to 63-60.
For the game, Lander made 25 of 61 shots from the floor (41 percent), six of eight free throws (75 percent), and six of 15 from behind the 3-point line (40 percent). Armstrong made 24 of 55 shots (44 percent), nine of 12 free throws (75 percent), and eight of 28 from behind the arc (29 percent). The Bearcats had a 35-34 edge on the boards. There were only 17 turnovers in the game with the Pirates committing nine and Lander eight.
