JEFFERSON CITY, TENN. – The Lander men's basketball team drained 19 3-pointers as it took down Carson-Newman 94-85 on the road Saturday afternoon to extend its winning streak.
Lander moves to 9-2 overall while Carson-Newman drops to 10-3 overall.
The Bearcats saw three players finish with 14 points while four players finished in double-figure scoring. Lander was led by Chandler Lindsey, Dominic Stanford and Jacob Cooper's 14 points while Noah Dunn finished with 13 points.
The Blue and Gold also saw nine players hit at least one 3-pointer against the Eagles. Lindsey led the way with four long-range shots.
The Bearcats were electric from beyond the arc in the first half, with the Blue and Gold connecting on 12 3-point attempts.
The two sides would be inches apart in the early going as the lead would change five times in the first two minutes before Ajang Aguek made a layup to put Lander in front 8-7 with 17:25 left in the first half. The Bearcats would then stretch its lead to seven points after back-to-back 3-pointers from Deandre Robinson and Tommy Moore to give Lander a 14-7 advantage with 15:48 remaining.
Carson-Newman would counter with back-to-back long-range shots of its own to cut the Bearcat's lead back to one point before Dominic Stanford drained a shot beyond the arc to give Lander a four-point cushion with 13:38 remaining.
Lander would stay reliant on the 3-ball as a pair of 3-pointers by Jaylon Pugh put Lander up 31-17 with 9:44 left in the first half. The Bearcats would see its lead balloon to a 22-point edge after Chandler Lindsey connected on a pair of 3-pointers to give the Bearcats a 39-17 edge with 7:57 left. The Eagles held tough and continued to battle with the Bearcats, getting the Lander lead down to 48-34 at the end of the first half.
Lander shot 17-of-34 from the field in the first half along with 12-of-24 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Carson-Newman went 13-of-29 from the field along with 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 5-of-8 from the free throw line in the first half.
Carson-Newman would start the second half with four consecutive points off of free throws before Lander would get on the scoreboard from a jumper in the paint from Stanford to make it a 50-38 Bearcat lead with 18:33 left in the second half.
The Eagles would continue to chisel away at the Bearcats' lead and would eventually tie the game at 56-56 with 12:53 after a jumper in the paint.
Carson-Newman would take a temporary one-point edge after a free throw before Navaughn Maise dropped a layup with 11:37 remaining to reestablish the Bearcats' lead.
The Eagles would tie the game once more with 9:32 remaining with the score even at 60 before Dunn hit a 3-pointer to put Lander back in the driver's seat.
Carson-Newman would get within one point of Lander with 8:42 left before Cooper connected on a 3-pointer with 8:12 remaining. The Bearcats would go on an 11-2 run to push their lead to 77-66 to gain needed separation from the Eagles while the Blue and Gold would see its lead stretch to 14 when Cooper connected on a 3-pointer with 3:46 left to give Lander an 85-71 edge.
Carson-Newman would get within seven of the Bearcats with 23 seconds left, but the damage had already been done.
Lander shot 30-of-62 from the field for the game while going 19-of-40 from 3-point range and 15-of-20 from the free-throw line. Carson-Newman went 26-of-55 from the field while going 7-of-13 from 3-point range and 26-of-34 from the free-throw line for the game.
The Bearcats return to PBC action for the remainder of the season with the USC Aiken Pacers coming to Horne Arena on January 4 to begin the 2023 portion of the season for a 7:30 pm start.
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