GREENWOOD – Dane Sparrow and Houston Wright scored 19 points apiece, leading the Lander Bearcats to a 70-60 Peach Belt Conference men's basketball victory over Francis Marion Monday night at Horne Arena.
The second consecutive Peach Belt victory improved Lander's record to 11-11 overall and 7-9 in the league. The Patriots fell to 15-8, 8-8.
The 11th victory of the season gave the Bearcats one more win than they had all of last year.
Wright hit seven of 11 shots from the floor and Sparrow seven of 12 to lead Lander. Brenton Harris just missed a double-double, collecting nine points and nine rebounds for the Bearcats. Ford “Scooter” Lawrence had six points and a game-high nine assists.
Kevin Clark paced the Patriots with 16 points while Crayton Jones had a game-high 11 rebounds and five assists.
Lander trailed 12-11 when Wright hit a 3-pointer and Harris converted a three-point play to put the hosts up 17-12 with 13:27 left in the first half. The Patriots scored the game's next five points, tying it at 17 on Clark's dunk off a pass from Jones at the 12:30 mark.
The Bearcats went on a 14-2 run, building a 31-19 lead when Greg Smalls hit a jumper, Sparrow nailed a 3-pointer, Smalls swished a 3-pointer and then converted a three-point play, and Wright banked a 3-pointer for the 12-point lead at the 8:12 mark.
Francis Marion made up most of that deficit, closing the first half with a 15-6 run to pull within 37-34 at the intermission. Clark, Anthony Wallen and Houston Power had 3-pointers during the run.
The Patriots opened the second half with a game-tying three-point play by Stanley Jones, knotting the score at 37. Kendrick Robinson's jumper gave Francis Marion its first lead since early in the game, 41-39, at the 16:15 mark.
There were six ties in the second half, the last of which was created by Wright's scooping lay-up that knotted the score at 47, igniting a 10-0 Lander run. Wright and Sparrow followed with 3-pointers and Sparrow hit a jumper to give the Bearcats a 55-47 lead. Darius Johnson's jumper with 6:20 to go gave Lander its largest lead of the second half at 57-48.
But Power hit a 3-pointer, added a free throw, and passed to Simel Boyd for a lay-up that closed Francis Marion within 57-54 at the 3:33 mark. Lawrence hit a 3-pointer to push the Bearcat lead to 60-54 with 3:01 to go.
Francis Marion's Boyd and Lander's Wright traded baskets and the Bearcats still led by six going under the two-minute mark. After Clark missed a jumper for the Patriots, Lawrence bounced a pass inside to Harris for a lay-up to increase Lander's lead to 64-56 with 1:16 to go.
Wright, Sparrow and Harris hit two free throws apiece to put the game away.
The Bearcats made 26 of 56 shots from the floor (46 percent), nine of 11 free throws (82 percent), and nine of 21 from 3-point range (43 percent). Francis Marion made 24 of 55 shots (44 percent), six of eight free throws (75 percent), and six of 23 from behind the arc (26 percent). Lander had a 34-31 edge on the boards. The Patriots committed 13 turnovers while the Bearcats had 11 turnovers.
