FLORENCE - The Lander men's basketball team gave Francis Marion all it wanted for 40 minutes Wednesday night, but in the end the Patriots were able to hold off the pesky Bearcats, 55-51, in a Peach Belt Conference game.

FMU improves to 18-6 overall and 10-5 in the PBC, while Lander slips to 11-13, 5-10.

Simel Boyd led Francis Marion with 12 points, while Bryant Julious had nine and Andrew Smith and Herman Mains eight each. Mains also grabbed a team-high rebounds.

Brenton Harris led the Bearcats' attack with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Curtis Milner added four blocked shots for Lander.

Though the two teams were tied three times in the first half, Lander led by as many as four points on four occasions and held a 24-23 advantage at halftime.

Dane Sparrow's three-pointer with 19:22 left in the game gave Lander a 27-23 lead. FMU took its first lead of the second half at 33-31 on Smith's jumper with 11:16 left.

After several lead changes and three more ties, FMU broke a 43-43 deadlock on Mains' layup with 3:44 left and never trailed again.

Lander connected on 23-of-49 shots for 46.9 percent (2-of-8 three pointers) and 3-of-11 free throws for 27.3 percent.

The Patriots were 19-of-52 from the floor for 36.5 percent (5-of-16 three pointers) and 12-of-17 from the foul line for 70.6 percent.