GREENWOOD – JR Washington, Rahu Purdie and Chris Tate scored a combined 52 points as the Lander Bearcats beat Peach Belt Conference rival Flagler College 73-58 Wednesday night at Horne Arena.

Lander improved to 5-9 overall, 2-3 in the Peach Belt.

The Saints fell to 6-6, 1-5.

Washington scored 19 points on six of 12 shooting from the floor, including three of five from behind the 3-point arc. The senior guard has scored in double figures in each of his last 50 games.

Purdie added 17 points for the Bearcats, including seven of eight free throws. Tate contributed 16 points on eight of 11 shooting from the floor including a pair of slam dunks while adding three blocked shots.

Purdie paced Lander with seven rebounds while Washington led the team with five steals and four assists.

Vaughn McCall was Flagler's top scorer with 14 points, Arnas Daurtartas added 11 points, Jeffercy Jean had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Ben Bobbitt added nine points.

The Bearcats grabbed control of the game quickly. After trailing 2-0, Lander scored 13 unanswered points. Purdie started the run with a 3, then lofted a fast-break alley-oop pass to Tate for a dunk.

TJ Knight hit a jumper, Tate scored on a put-back, and Purdie and Clenzo Ross made shots in the paint for a 13-2 Bearcat lead with 12:39 left in the opening half.

Jarryd Coleman, Washington and Purdie swished 3s as Lander doubled up the Saints 28-14 with 6:39 to go.

Bobbitt hit a 3 and an inside shot, and McCall added a 3 as Flagler scored eight unanswered points to pull within 28-22 at the five-minute mark before Washington ended the run with an NBA range 3.

Knight made a turnaround jumper and Jordan Dingle added a fast-break, twisting layup as the Bearcats were back up by double figures, 35-25, with 2:50 left.

Lander led 35-30 at halftime.

Washington's two free throws gave the Bearcats their first double-digit lead of the second half at 49-39 with 12:43 to go.

McCall's free throws pulled the Saints within 49-44 with 11:13 left. McCall's driving layup had Flagler within 53-48 with 8:11 to go.

Tate's basket in the paint pushed Lander's lead to 59-50 with 5:36 left and Washington's bank shot made it 61-52 with 4:37 to go.

Purdie's jumper just inside the arc bounced around and in, putting the Bearcats back up by double figures at 63-52 with 3:51 left.

Coleman's 3 from the right corner in front of Lander's bench gave the Bearcats a 66-54 advantage with 2:17 left, and Washington's 3 from well beyond the top of the key made it 69-54 with 1:36 to go.

Tate added an exclamation point to the victory with a thunderous dunk with 17 seconds left for the game's final points.