AIKEN, S.C. - Lander senior Ford "Scooter" Lawrence apparently wasn't ready to see his college basketball career come to an end.
Lawrence had nine of his career-high 22 points during a key second half rally and also had seven assists, leading the Bearcats to a 74-60 Peach Belt Conference Tournament first-round victory over Columbus State Wednesday afternoon at USC Aiken's Convocation Center. Lander outscored Columbus 27-12 over the last 12-plus minutes of the game.
The Bearcats broke a four-game losing streak, improving to 12-15. They will face top-seeded Augusta State Friday afternoon at 1 o'clock in Aiken in the PBC quarterfinals. With the play-in game loss, the Cougars saw their season end with a record of 8-19.
Lander advanced despite playing without two injured starters - center Curtis Milner and wing Dane Sparrow.
Lawrence had perhaps the best game of his Lander career, hitting 7-of-11 shots from the floor including 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point line. He was also perfect from the free-throw line, making all four. His assists also came at crucial times in the game. Lawremce's previous career high was 20 points in Lander's win over Emmanuel College in the 2007-2008 season.
The Bearcats' other starting senior, Houston Wright, was 6-for-7 from the floor and finished with 15 points. Junior Greg Smalls added 10 points and seven rebounds while fellow junior Brenton Harris contributed seven rebounds and five blocked shots. Freshman Ty Beaty added eight points off Lander's bench while junior Darius Johnson had three blocked shots.
Chris Telesford led the Cougars with 22 points, sharing game-high honors with Lawrence. Nick Gagnon added 13 points for Columbus. Telesford was the game's top rebounder with nine.
Lander shot 55 percent from the floor, making 28 of 51 shots. The Bearcats made 8-of-14 from 3-point range (57 percent) and made good on their free throw opportunities, hitting 10-of-12 (83 percent). Lander did commit 22 turnovers, but blocked nine Cougar shots.
Columbus didn't shoot nearly as well, making only 21 of 61 shot from the floor (34 percent), five of 21 from behind the arc (24 percent), and 13 of 19 free throws (68 percent).
The Bearcats were trailing 48-47 after a big Columbus run before tying the game at 48 on Johnson's free throw and taking the lead on Lawrence's steal and basket, making it 50-48 at the 10:12 mark. Lawrence scored the next two baskets, giving Lander some breathing room at 54-48 with 8:22 to go.
After Telesford scored for the Cougars, Johnson restored Lander's six-point lead with two free throws, then Lawrence hit a 3-pointer that pushed the Bearcat advantage to 59-50 with 7:15 remaining. His three completed a game-changing 12-3 run in which Lawrence scored nine points.
Telesford put-back his own missed shot with five minutes left to close Columbus within 61-54. But Beaty's fast-break lay-up and Wright's 3-pointer gave Lander its largest lead of the game at 66-54 with 4:25 to go. Fittingly, Lawrence had assists on both baskets.
Javarus Stewart's 3-pointer and Owen Brow's free throw pulled Columbus within 66-58 with approximately three minutes to go. But Kevin Kelley scored and Smalls made two lay-ups to put the game away for the Bearcats. Wright's dunk off a pass from Kelley with 11 seconds left provided the exclamation point for Lander.
The Bearcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead when Lawrence hit a game-opening 3-pointer and then got assists on baskets by Smalls and Harris. But Columbus responded with a 14-2 run, taking a 14-9 lead with Telesford scoring seven of those points.
The Cougar lead was 22-17 on Carlos Wright's lay-up at the 9:52 mark. But Lander's Jacob Mochoskay hit a 3-pointer and Beaty scored inside to tie the game at 22. The teams exchanged the next several points and they were still tied, at 33, with 2:29 to go. But Lawrence broke the tie by going 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute to give the Bearcats a 37-33 halftime lead.
Wright's 3-pointer staked the Bearcats to their largest lead of the game to that point, 45-37, with 16:23 to go. But Columbus regained the lead with an 11-2 run on Carlos Wright's basket and two free throws, Gagnon's tip-in and Telesford's go-ahead 3-pointer, putting the Cougars up 48-47 with 12:36 left. But that lead would be short-lived as Lander would out-score the Cougars by 15 the rest of the way.
