GREENWOOD – Greg Smalls led five double-figure scorers with 15 points as the Lander Bearcats held Newberry scoreless during a 10-minute stretch of the first half en route to their fourth consecutive win, 87-55, Saturday afternoon at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 4-2 on the season while Newberry fell to 3-5.
Dane Sparrow added 12 points for the Bearcats while Brenton Harris scored 11, and Da’Shon Barrino and Curtis Milner 10 points apiece. Antonio Pope added eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Danny Buffor led Newberry with 17 points while teammate Stephane Bakinde added a game-high 10 rebounds.
Newberry was held to 6 of 26 shooting (23 percent) in the first half, including one of 11 from 3-point range (9 percent).
“I think guys are really buying into our traps and buying into our defense and taking some pride in how we are playing,” Lander coach Jeff Burkhamer said. “That’s back-to-back halves that we have held teams under 30 percent shooting.
“We are getting better each day. We are getting more comfortable with what we are doing both offensively and defensively. And we just want to continue to improve.”
The Bearcats will take a short break for final exams.
“We are taking three days off. I just told our guys that I hated that we have to take a break right now because we are playing with such confidence. We are taking three days off to make sure they are getting everything done academically. And then we will come back Wednesday with individual workouts and we’ll have Thursday, Friday and Saturday to prepare for our first conference game (at Pembroke Dec. 20).”
With Lander leading 10-6, Sparrow hit a 3-pointer from the right side that started a 19-0 run. Harris scored the next 11 points all by himself, starting the run with a lay-up, a pair of free throws and a put-back.
Harris continued the run with a back-door lay-up off a pass from Roy Hinson, and converted a three-point play after scoring on a put back of Hinson’s missed free throw, making it 24-6 at the 9:39 mark.
Kevin Kelley followed with a 3-pointer and Sparrow hit a jumper to complete the 19-0 run, making it 29-6 with 6:51 left. Devante Cutler’s basket ended the 10-minute scoring drought for Newberry, which had missed 15 of its first 18 shots from the floor.
Milner scored twice inside, helping the Bearcats extend their lead to 35-9. Newberry finally reached double figures in points when Charles Ndoloum hit two free throws with 2:55 left, making it 35-11.
The teams then traded dunks with Lander’s Pope slamming a put-back and Newberry’s Rodney Lee flushing an alley-oop pass from Aaron Edwards. But Lee was also called for a technical foul, Smalls hit two free throws, and the Bearcats were up 39-13 at the 2:08 mark.
Smalls hit two free throws and a basket, and Barrino made two throws for a 45-16 halftime lead.
Smalls hit a 3-pointer with 17 minutes left to give Lander its largest lead of the game at 31 points, 54-23. Smalls and Bailey each converted old-fashioned three-point plays as the lead grew to 61-25 with 13:17 to go.
Sparrow hit a 3-pointer and Barrino sliced inside for a lay-up to push the lead to 41 points, 68-27, at the 10-minute mark. It would be the team’s largest lead of the game. Newberry scored eight unanswered points, including Huffor’s steal and break-away dunk, to close the gap to 68-35.
Kelley and Deangelo Spruill hit 3-pointers to help the Bearcats push their lead to 76-40. Lander reached the 80-point mark with 5:08 left when Barrino hit a scoop shot in the lane, and Jacob Mochoskay scored inside for an 82-44 lead.
Jeremee Davis’s 3-pointer capped an 8-0 Newberry run, cutting the deficit to 30 points, 82-52, with less than three minutes remaining.
For the game, Lander made 33 of 58 shots from the floor (57 percent), 13 of 23 free throws (57 percent), and eight of 16 from behind the arc (50 percent).
Newberry made 21 of 55 shots (38 percent), nine of 16 free throws (56 percent), and four of 21 from behind the arc (19 percent). The Bearcats had a 37-34 edge on the boards and forced 21 Newberry turnovers. Lander committed 17 turnovers.
