AIKEN, S.C. – JR Washington scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, but the Lander men's basketball team fell to USC Aiken, 73-67, on Saturday night in a Peach Belt Conference game at the Convocation Center.

Lander dropped to 16-7, 10-4 on the season, while the Pacers improved to 6-15, 4-10. 

Washington led all scorers with 22 points, making six of 14 shots from the floor while adding three steals and two rebounds. Tobiasz Hose added 15 points and led the Bearcats with 11 rebounds and four steals. 

Keith Belfield led USC Aiken with 20 points, including five of seven 3-pointers. Tavares Sledge added 14 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, while Arbry Butler netted 13 points.

The Bearcats made 25 of 64 shots from the floor (39 percent), 10 of 16 free throws (63 percent) and seven of 25 from 3-point range (28 percent).

USC Aiken hit 26 of 49 shots (53 percent), 13 of 28 free throws (46 percent) and eight of 18 from behind the arc (44 percent).

The Pacers outrebounded Lander, 38-36.

After taking a 31-27 lead into halftime, USC Aiken opened the second half on a 14-4 run to grab its largest lead of the game, 45-31, with 14:10 to play. However, Lander rallied to pull within four on a Washington layup with 7:36 remaining that cut the deficit to 53-49. 

The Pacers appeared to put the game away on a free throw from Hendrix Emu that extended the lead to 72-61 with 51 seconds to play, but four quick points from Washington and a Matthew McClain layup cut the lead to 72-67 with 20 seconds to go. 

However, another made free throw from Emu with 13 seconds remaining buried any hopes of a Bearcat comeback.