YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Freshman Chris Tate scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Lander men's basketball team in Monday night's 88-69 Peach Belt Conference loss to Young Harris.

Young Harris improves to 16-11 overall and 10-8 in the PBC, while Lander moves to 10-17, (7-11).

Tate, who connected on 5-of-10 field goals and 7-of-9 free throws, led all Bearcats in scoring in rebounding, while Rahu Purdie added 14 points. Jordan Dingle came off the bench to contribute two assists.

JR Washington, who missed the last two games with an injury, scored nine points, snapping his streak of scoring at least 10 points in 60 consecutive games.

J.B. Charles led Young Harris with 20 points, while C.J. Wilson registered 19 points and eight rebounds. Ben Waterhouse added 15 points and Bjorn Walker netted 14 points. 

The Mountain Lion starters accounted for 75 of Young Harris's 88 points. 

Lander connected on 23-of-57 field goals (40.4 percent), including 6-of-19 threes (31.6 percent), and 17-of-24 free throws (70.8 percent).

YHC was 31-of-51 from the floor (60.8 percent), including 7-of-14 threes (50 percent) and 19-of-24 foul shots (79.2 percent).

After the Bearcats scored the first four points of the night, Young Harris went on a 20-0 run to seize control of the game. Lander managed to pull within 13 points at the end of the half thanks a buzzer-beater layup from Washington off a steal from Nicklas Jonsson.

However, the Mountain Lions netted the opening four points of the second half to take a 43-26 lead with 19:21 remaining. 

Lander was outscored by Young Harris 49-43 in the second half, despite Purdie scoring all 14 of his points over the final 18:42 of the game.