GREENWOOD – Dane Sparrow scored 24 points, helping Lander coach Jeff Burkhamer beat his former team Armstrong Atlantic State 65-57 Wednesday night in Peach Belt Conference action at Horne Arena.
Sparrow hit eight of 10 shots from the floor, including six of seven from 3-point range, to lead the Bearcats (7-9, 2-6 Peach Belt). The Pirates fell to 5-11, 0-7.
Burkhamer coached at Armstrong for the past seven years, leading the Pirates into the NCAA Tournament four of those seasons, before being hired by Lander last spring.
Tovi Bailey added 10 points for the Bearcats while Brenton Harris had 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Sparrow added two blocked shots.
Chris Vanlandingham led Armstrong with 15 points, Gabriel Robinson scored 13, and Keron McKenzie added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Robinson led the Pirates with six assists.
Lander started out strong, building an 8-0 lead on three-point plays by Harris and Greg Smalls, and two free throws by Antonio Pope. Meanwhile, Armstrong missed its first seven shots, with Harris blocking two of those attempts. The Pirates finally scored when Vanlandingham hit a 3-pointer at the 14:58 mark to make it 8-3.
Sparrow’s 3-pointer and Bailey’s jumper built the lead back to eight, 13-5, with 12:23 to go. But Armstrong rattled off nine unanswered points, taking its first lead at 14-13 on David Pruett’s 3-pointer at the 9:49 mark.
What followed were five lead changes with the last being Curtis Milner’s layup, giving the Bearcats a 19-18 edge and starting an 8-0 run. Sparrow completed the run with a pair of 3-pointers, giving Lander a 25-18 lead at the seven-minute mark.
But the Pirates closed the half with a 12-4 run, taking a 30-29 lead at the intermission on Vanlandingham’s 3-pointer with eight seconds left.
The Bearcats took their first lead of the second half when Pope scored inside and added a pair of free throws, making it 33-32. Armstrong regained the lead, 37-33, on Vanlandingham’s off-balance jumper and Pruett’s 3-pointer. Lander tied the game at 37-all with 15:43 to go when Harris scored inside and Bailey hit a driving layup.
After two scoreless minutes, Sparrow gave the Bearcats the lead for good, 40-37, with a 3-pointer from the left corner. Lander expanded its lead to 44-39 on Sparrow’s jumper just inside the arc and Darius Johnson’s layup off a nifty interior pass from Harris.
Sparrow’s fifth 3-pointer of the game pushed the lead to 47-41 at the 9:45 mark. There were no points until 8:11 to go when Da’Shon Barrino stole the ball, drove in for a layup, was fouled and converted a three-point play to make it 50-41.
The Pirates ended a nearly four-minute scoring drought when McKenzie hit a pair of free throws, pulling the visitors within 50-43 at the 6:41 mark. Patrick Shokpeka’s three-point play – Armstrong’s first basket from the field in five minutes – cut the gap to 50-46 with 5:41 to go.
Bailey ended the streak of five unanswered Pirate points with a 3-pointer to push Lander’s lead to 53-46 with 5:05 left. The lead was seven again, 55-48, when Harris scored inside at the 3:12 mark.
Vanlandingham’s three-point play pulled Armstrong within 55-51 with 2:56 to go. But Sparrow answered with a long 3-pointer, making it 58-51 at the 2:24 mark.
Smalls hit a runner in the paint to maintain the seven-point lead at 60-53 with 1:41 left. After Bailey hit a free throw with 50 seconds to go, Robinson hit a jumper in the lane to close the gap to 61-55 with 40 ticks remaining.
McKenzie’s free throws with 23 seconds left pulled Armstrong within 61-57. But Sparrow hit two free throws with 12 seconds to go, making it 63-57. The Pirates failed to get the ball inbounds, and Kevin Kelley added a pair of free throws for the final margin.
For the game, Lander hit 23 of 49 shots from the floor (47 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent), and seven of 17 from behind the 3-point line (41 percent).
Armstrong made 22 of 59 shots (37 percent), nine of 11 free throws (82 percent), and four of 13 from behind the arc (31 percent).
The Bearcats had a 39-31 edge on the boards. Lander committed 14 turnovers to eight for Armstrong.
