AIKEN - The No. 17-ranked Lander men's basketball team rallied late but fell short Wednesday night when the Bearcats lost to USC Aiken, 86-81, in a Peach Belt Conference game at The Convocation Center.

USC Aiken improves to 8-8 overall and 3-4 in the PBC, while Lander moves to 13-2, 5-2.

JR Washington led Lander with 19 points, while Tobiasz Hose added 15 points and seven rebounds, and Mike Lee 13 points and seven rebounds.

USC Aiken placed six players in double figures led by Andre' Anthony's 16 points. Dominic Early added 13 points and eight rebounds, Caleb Stewart 12 points and eight rebounds, Tyreece Brice 12 points, Rashad Lewis 11 points and Henrix Emu 10 points.

The Bearcats connected on 31-of-76 floor shots (40.8 percent), including 7-of-19 three pointers (36.8 percent), and 12-of-21 foul shots (57.1 percent).

The Pacers, who led 38-33 at halftime, made 30-of-57 floor shots (52.6 percent), including 9-of-19 threes (47.4 percent), and 17-of-24 free throws (70.8 percent).

Down 75-62 with 2:01 left to play, the Bearcats cut the margin to 75-65 at 1:50 on Washington's three pointer. Mike Lee trimmed the Pacer lead to 75-67 with 1:31 left when he connected on two free throws.

After Dominic Early's dunk put the Pacers up 77-67 at 1:22, Lander went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 79-75 on a Washington three with 43 seconds left.

Lewis' layup stretched the Pacer lead to 83-77, then Washington cut it to four again at 83-79 when he sank a pair of free throws at 18 seconds.

Stewart made the first of two free throws for the Pacers at 16 seconds, but Hose came back and made it a three-point game (84-81) with a layup with six ticks remaining.

Tyreece Brice sank two free throws for the Pacers with four second remaining to finalize the scoring.