ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A 41-point second half from the Lander men's basketball team wasn't enough to overcome a shaky first half as Lander fell 81-70 to No. 23 Flagler on the road.
Lander drops to 9-10 overall and 4-6 in the PBC while Flagler advances to 16-3 overall and 9-1 in the PBC.
Dominic Stanford led the Bearcats with 19 points on the day. Stanford also contributed four rebounds, four assists and one steal. Jared Sherfield was close to a double-double with 18 points and eight rebounds. Deandre Robinson and Nigel Colvin joined Sherfield and Stanford in double-figure scoring.
Lander shot 40 percent on the day from the field while shooting 32.1 percent from deep. Flagler went 48.2 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from 3-point range.
While neither team shot horrible in the first half, it would be a 7-of-16 performance from 3-point range that would help the Saints take a lead into the half.
Stanford put up 11 of his 19 points in the first half, as he tried to help keep the Bearcats afloat.
The Saint would take an early 8-0 lead with 17:23 in the first before Lander would get on the board with a layup and free throw from Robinson with 16:41. The Bearcats would continue to battle with the Saints, getting the score within two points twice. The first time came after a layup from Stanford made it 12-10 Flagler with 12:56 while a layup from Zane Rankin made it a 14-12 contest with 11:44 left in the first half.
Flagler would soon rally and go on an 11-3 run to establish a 10-point advantage with 7:41, which they would hold for most of the remainder of the first half and go into halftime up 45-29.
Lander would perform much better in the second half, with the Bearcats shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 43.8 from 3-point range in the second frame of action. Sherfield would dish in 14 of his 18 points in the second half, going 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep.
Although down 47-29 after an early jumper from Flagler, Lander would use an 18-6 run to get the lead down to six points with 12:24 and make it a 53-47 game. Lander saw contributions from Stanford, Sherfield, Rankin and Colvin. The Bearcats went 7-of-8 during that span while shooting 3-of-4 from long range. Colvin dropped in eight points during that stretch.
Flagler would stretch its lead to as large as 15 before Lander would get the lead to single digits with a 3-point shot from Sherfield to make it a 69-60 contest with 5:17 in the second half. The Bearcats got within seven of Flagler after another 3-point shot from Sherfield with 1:42 to make it 77-70, but that would be as close as Lander could get in the second half.
Lander is back at Horne Arena next to host Young Harris on Wednesday, February 2 for a 7:30 pm start.
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