ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The Lander men's basketball team placed four players in double figures Saturday afternoon and won its fifth straight game when it defeated Flagler College, 71-66, in a Peach Belt Conference game.

Lander, which improves to 12-6 overall and 6-3 in the PBC, has won eight of its last nine games. Flagler drops to 8-9, 2-8.

JR Washington led the Bearcats with 19 points and six rebounds, while Michael Panaggio had 16 points, Jareal Smith 11 points, Darius Carrier 10 points, and Mario Pendarvis seven rebounds.

Dennis Diaz led the Saints with a game-high 20 points, Jerrell Oxendine added 13 points, Keith Matthews 12 points and seven rebounds, and Adam Jones 10 points and seven rebounds.

Lander was 24-of-60 from the field (40 percent), including 8-of-14 from the three-point line (57.1 percent), and 15-of-21 from the free throw line (71.4 percent).

Flagler, which outrebounded Lander, 37-32, connected on 19-of-46 from the field (41.3 percent), including 7-of-20 threes (35 percent), and 21-of-28 foul shots (75 percent).

The Bearcats, who led by as many as nine points in the first half when they took a 16-7 lead at the 11:19 mark, trailed 31-29 at the intermission.

After battling through six ties, Lander eased out to a 52-47 lead on a Washington three with 9:49 left to play.

Flagler cut the Lander lead to 61-60 with 3:16 left, but two Jareal Smith free throws with 19 seconds remaining put the Bearcats up 70-65.