GREENWOOD – Brenton Harris, having already posted a double-double in the first half, led seven Lander double-figure scorers with 23 points as the Bearcats routed Hiwassee College 111-67 Monday night in the first round of the Lander New Year’s Classic at Horne Arena.
Harris made 11 of 15 shots from the floor and added a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the Bearcats, who improved to 5-3 on the season.
Adrian McLaurin led the Tigers (4-6) with a game-high 28 points. Shondre Guest added 24 points. McLaurin and Guest combined for 52 of Hiwassee's 67 points.
The tournament resumes Tuesday at 1 o’clock when Georgia Southwestern meets Hiwassee. Lander faces Lenoir-Rhyne at 3:30. Georgia Southwestern edged Lenoir-Rhyne, 59-56, in Monday's first game.
Dane Sparrow also had a big game for the Bearcats, scoring 18 points on seven of 10 shooting. Kevin Kelley and Da’Shon Barrino had 11 points apiece while Darius Johnson, Greg Smalls and Antonio Pope each scored 10 points.
Deangelo Spruill added seven assists and committed no turnovers for Lander, while Barrino added six assists and Kelley four.
The Bearcats shot 60 percent from the floor, making 50 baskets out of 84 attempts. The Lander bench out-scored Hiwassee’s reserves 61-6 and the hosts scored 70 points in the paint. The Bearcats also had a huge 53-26 rebounding advantage.
Lander used a 29-4 run to blow open a close game in the first half. McLaurin scored with 10:23 left in the first half to pull the visitors from Madisonville, Tenn., within 20-17. Then the run started with 10 consecutive Bearcat points, with Johnson and Harris each scoring twice.
Hiwassee’s Guest scored to break the 10-point run, but Lander responded with 19 of the game’s next 23 points to build its lead to 49-21 with 1:49 left in the half. Harris scored six of the 19 points, Sparrow had five including a 3-pointer, and Smalls four. McLaurin scored twice to pull the Tigers within 49-25 at halftime.
Lander shot 60 percent from the floor in the first half, making 24 of 40 shots. The Bearcats out-scored Hiwassee 42-8 in the paint before halftime and held the Tigers to 32 percent shooting (10 of 31). Harris paced the Bearcats by making seven of 10 shots in the first half.
Lander expanded on its lead in the second half, increasing the advantage to 32, 65-33, on Spruill’s 3-pointer with 16 minutes left. The lead grew to 40, 79-39, on Harris’s lay-up with 11:45 to go.
The largest lead of the game was 46 points, 99-53, with 5:22 left on Pope’s offensive rebound dunk. Antonio Young dunked off a pass from Kelley to push Lander past the 100-point mark, 101-65, with 3:32 to go.
Hiwassee made 26 of 66 shots from the floor (39 percent), 11 of 14 free throws (79 percent), and four of 22 from 3-point range (18 percent). Lander made two of five free throws (40 percent) and nine of 20 from behind the arc (45 percent). Each team committed 16 turnovers.
