COLUMBUS, Ga. - Dermaine Smith and Jareal Smith scored 20 points each Wednesday night to lead the Lander men's basketball team to its first Peach Belt Conference win of the season, a 76-67 victory over Columbus State University at the Lumpkin Center.

Lander improves to 6-4 overall and 1-2 in the PBC. Columbus State drops to 5-5, 0-3.

Dermaine Smith, who connected on 9-of-11 field goals, added a game-high 11 rebounds, while David Pruett chipped in 14 points and five rebounds. Jareal Smith made 7-of-16 of his floor shots.

Idell Bell and Rory Miller led CSU with 15 points each, while Winford Ivey added 13. Bell and Miller grabbed eight and seven rebounds respectively.

Lander connected on 26-of-60 field goals (43.3 percent), including 7-of-19 threes (36.8 percent) and 17-of-24 foul shots (70.8 percent).

CSU made 22-of-55 floor shots (40 percent), including 8-of-25 threes (32 percent) and 15-of-25 free throws (60 percent).

After trailing 4-0 to start the game, Lander went on a 7-2 run -- on two Dermaine Smith buckets and a Pruett three -- to take a 7-6 lead with 15:56 left in the first half and never trailed again.

The Bearcats notched their first double-figure advantage at 16-6 on a Darius Carrier layup at 13:37, then stretched the margin to 32-18 on a Carrier dunk at 4:15.

The Cougars cut the Bearcat lead to 35-31 with 18:15 left in the game on a Bell three, but Lander responded with a 7-0 run to go up 42-31 on a Dermaine Smith three.

Lander posted its biggest lead of the game at 18 points -- 61-43 -- when Jareal Smith nailed a jumper with 7:38 left to play.

The Bearcats led by double figures the remainder of the game until CSU's Jermaine Morgan scored on a layup to make it 74-65 with 24 seconds remaining.

The Bearcats won the rebounding battle, 40-33.