COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Lander men's basketball team picked a fine time to beat the University of Montevallo as the Bearcats downed the Falcons, 71-70, Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

Lander, the East Division's No. 1 seed, advances to Sunday's PBC Tournament championship game, where they will face the winner of West top seed Columbus State and East No. 2 seed Augusta University at 1:30 p.m.

The Bearcats' win over Montevallo, the East's No. 2 seed, was the first time they defeated the Falcons in eight meetings. Montevallo, which downed Lander, 73-69 in overtime on Jan. 16 in Horne Arena, had reached the PBC championship game five of the last six years and won the title in 2012 and 2015.

Lander advances to the championship game for the first time since it won the title over Clayton State in 2007 in Horne Arena. Lander also won PBC tournament crowns in 1994 and 1995.

The Bearcats were led by JR Washington's double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Scott Elder and Travis Fredimon added 14 points apiece and Tobiasz Hose chipped in 12.

Montevallo's Tevin Worth and Terrell Lipkins scored 15 points apiece, while Vaughn Autry and Malik Fields netted 12 each.

The Bearcats claimed a 58-48 lead, its biggest of the game, with 11:08 remaining to play. But the Falcons gradually chipped at the Bearcat advantage and took a brief lead at 68-67 with 1:58 remaining.

Elder went 4-for-4 at the free throw line down the stretch to give the Bearcats the lead and hold the Falcons at bay down the stretch.

Lander took control early in the contest when it built a 9-2 lead in the first three and a half minutes, but the Falcons went on a 12-4 run to go up 14-13 with 11:15 left in the half.

After being tied at 16-all, Montevallo maintained the lead the remainder of the half -- going up by as many as nine points -- before Lander cut the margin to 39-36 at halftime.

Fredimon's jumper with 19:00 left to play put Lander up 40-39 and the Bearcats maintained the lead most of the half.

Lander connected on 23-of-62 field goals (37.1 percent), including 8-of-23 threes (34.8 percent), and 17-of-20 foul shots (85 percent).

Montevallo was 27-of-57 from the floor (47.4 percent), including 6-of-23 threes (26.1 percent), and 10-of-15 free throws (66.7 percent).