GREENWOOD – Dwight Tolbert's fall-away jumper with 20.5 seconds left proved to be the game-winner as the Lander Bearcats outlasted Georgia Southwestern 75-74 in a fierce Peach Belt Conference battle Saturday afternoon at Horne Arena.
The game featured 13 ties and 19 lead changes before the Bearcats were able to clinch the game in the final minute to improve their record to 9-2 overall, their best start since the 1999-2000 season when they were 10-1.
Lander improved to 3-1 in the Peach Belt and has won six straight overall.
Georgia Southwestern dropped to 9-3 overall and although the Hurricanes are 0-3 in the PBC, their losses before Saturday included a double overtime defeat at Clayton State and a narrow loss at Montevallo. GSW was the preseason favorite to win the Peach Belt.
Corey Wright led the Bearcats with 21 points and nine assists, falling one assist shy of reaching double figures in that category for the third time in a week.
Jermel Kennedy added a double-double for Lander with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Dwight Tolbert scored 13 points, David Pruett added nine points, Darius Carrier had eight rebounds, and Darion Canty had four steals as well as four important points down the stretch.
Phillip Brown led the Hurricanes with 22 points on eight of 10 shooting from the floor while sharing team-high honors with eight rebounds. Bobby Glover scored 15 points, Evan Mobley added 10 points, and Marlon Rivera had six points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Brown also had three blocked shots.
Lander made 29 of 62 shots from the floor (47 percent), 13 of 22 free throws (59 percent) and four of 15 from 3-point range (27 percent).
Georgia Southwestern made 30 of 53 shots (57 percent), 10 of 16 free throws (63 percent), and four of 14 from behind the arc (29 percent).
Fittingly, each team had 34 rebounds.
Lander broke the game's 12th tie in dramatic fashion on Tolbert's top of the key alley-oop pass to Kennedy for a thunderous dunk. But tie No. 13 occurred when Brown made two free throws to make it 67-all with 4:12 left.
Tolbert, who was double-teamed, found Carrier wide open under the basket for a go-ahead layup at the four-minute mark. But the Hurricanes took a 70-69 lead with 3:40 to go when Colin Slotter hit a 3-pointer from the right side. Slotter's pass to Brown led to a layup, giving GSW a 72-69 lead at the 3:07 mark.
Canty fought for a rebound, was fouled, and hit two free throws cut Lander's deficit to one with 2:31 to go, and Tolbert bounced a pass to Canty for a layup, giving the Bearcats a 73-72 lead with 1:55 left.
A wild scramble on the floor led to a Hurricanes turnover at the 1:27 mark, but Lander was called for a five-second violation with 1:09 to go. The two teams swapped turnovers again, with Lander's turnover resulting in Mobley's driving layup high off the glass. Mobley was fouled on the play but missed the free throw and GSW led 74-73 with 42 seconds left.
It was Lander's turn down the floor and Tolbert hit a fall-away jumper just inside the 3-point line to put the hosts back on top, 75-74, with 20.5 seconds left.
Georgia Southwestern attempted to win the game as Rivera brought the ball up the floor and passed off to Mobley, who got the ball to Slotter in the paint. But Slotter's spinning shot in the lane with three seconds left bounced off the rim and Tolbert soared high for the rebound. He was fouled with four tenths of a second left, and although he missed both free throws, the Hurricanes didn't have enough time left.
The second half got off to an entertaining start with Slotter's backdoor layup extending GSW's one-point halftime lead to 35-32 lead. Lander responded with Wright's fast-break alley-oop pass to Kennedy for a dunk. Glover's 3-pointer from the left corner pushed the Hurricane lead back to four, but the Bearcats tied it at 38-all on Kennedy's basket and Wright's driving layup off a turnover.
Slotter's layup gave GSW a 45-40 lead. But Wright kept up his torrid scoring pace, reaching 20 points on the day when he drove to the basket for a layup, drew a foul and completed a three-point play to pull Lander within 45-43.
After Matt Shaw hit a jumper for the visitors, the Bearcats took their first lead of the second half when Pruett hit a 3-pointer and Kennedy made a tough layup for a 48-47 advantage at the 14:17 mark.
After consecutive baskets by Georgia Southwestern, Wright found Dennis Rumph open under the basket for a layup and three-point play, tying it at 51 with 13:17 left. It was the ninth tie of the game.
Lander took three-point leads at 54-51 and 56-53 on Kennedy's put-back and Pruett's long jumper. But Milos Kleut made a nice move inside for a layup and Slotter put the Hurricanes back on top, 57-56, with a shot off the glass.
Brown converted a driving layup into a three-point play to give GSW a 60-58 lead at the 9:27 mark before Tolbert's basket in the paint tied the game for the 10th time.
Mobley hit one free throw and Brown made two, but Tolbert hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the game's 11th tie, 63-63, with 7:43 left.
After Tolbert scored inside followed by several scoreless possessions, Rivera sliced inside for a layup to tie the game for the 12th time at 65 with 5:20 to go, setting the stage for a wild finish.
The first half was just as tight as the second, featuring seven ties, the last at 29-all when Lander's Tolbert hit three free throws with 4:27 left.
After Kleut's free throw gave GSW a 30-29 lead, Wright hit a 3-pointer to put the Bearcats up 32-30 at the 1:43 mark. The basket gave him 14 points in the first half on six of 10 shooting.
There was no more scoring in the first half until Mobley swished a long 3-pointer with a defender draped over him at the buzzer, giving the Hurricanes a 33-32 halftime lead.
