GREENWOOD – Michael Panaggio scored 17 points and led four Lander players in double figures Sunday afternoon as the Bearcats men's basketball team defeated Lenoir-Rhyne, 72-59, in a non-conference game in the Finis Horne Holiday Classic in Horne Arena.

Lander improves to 6-5 overall, while L-R drops to 5-4.

Panaggio connected on 4-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-7 three pointers and 6-of-6 free throws. JR Washington added 14 points, Mario Pendarvis 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Dermaine Smith 10 points and nine rebounds.

R.J. McCure led the Bears with 13 points, while Will Perry netted 11 and Allan Jones grabbed a team-best five rebounds.

Lander connected on 23-of-48 floor shots (47.9 percent), 8-of-18 threes (44.4 percent) and 18-of-25 free throws (72 percent).

L-R made 17-of-52 field goals (32.7 percent), 6-of-21 threes (28.6 percent) and 19-of-23 foul shots (82.6 percent).

The Bearcats, which led 38-25 at halftime, outrebounded L-R, 28-27.

Lander got off to a fast start by jumping out to a 9-0 lead as Washington had a three and two free throws, Pendarvis a field goal and Dermaine Smith an alley-oop dunk.

The Bearcats earned their first double-digit lead at 14:44 when another Washington three made it 12-2. Lander continued to extend its lead to a high 17 points at 36-19 on a Pendarvis layup then again at 38-21 on a pair of Darius Carrier free throws with 1:36 left in the first half.

L-R made a move early in the second half when the Bears went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 42-33 on two Will Perry free throws with 14:05 left to play.

After Lander went up 47-35 on another Dermaine Smith dunk with 10:23 remaining, the Bears trimmed the margin to 53-49 with 7:13 left on Jarvis Perry's three.

Lander went on a 10-3 scoring spree to go back up 63-52 with 4:47 remaining on a Dermaine Smith jumper, then put the game out of reach when Jareal Smith fired in a three to give the Bearcats a 72-57 advantage with 1:08 left to play.

Lander will next host Columbus State on Thursday, Jan. 2, in Horne Arena.