MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Lander men's basketball team wasn't able to capitalize on a 15-point lead at the half, as the Bearcats fell 58-53 to Georgia College Wednesday evening.
Lander falls to 10-14 overall and 5-10 in the PBC while Georgia College moves to 19-5 overall and 11-4 in the PBC.
Nigel Colvin led the Bearcats with 14 points. He also hauled in five rebounds. Jared Sherfield had a double-double against the Bobcats, as he had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Sherfield also had five assists and four steals.
The Bearcats began the night shooting 13-of-26 (50%) in the first half while going 7-of-10 from 3-point range. Lander also held Georgia College to 7-of-28 from the field in the first half.
After the Bobcats scored the first three points on a 3-pointer, the Bearcats would respond with a 9-0 run that saw five points from Colvin along with jumpers from Dominic Stanford and Deshundre Rucker with 13:49 left in the first half. The Bearcats would stretch their lead to 12 with 9:26 to go up 20-8 after the Bobcats go within one point of Lander. Sherfield would hit a pair of 3-pointers along with a long-range splash from Zane Rankin while DaJuan Moorer hit a jumper.
Lander would lead by as many as 19, as Sherfield hit a fastbreak 3-pointer with 4:10 remaining to make it a 30-11 contest. The two sides would exchange baskets for the remainder of the half, with the Bearcats leading 35-20.
Lander would push its lead back to 19 with a layup from Colvin with 15:32 in the second half before the Bobcats would surge back into the contest with a 17-0 run before Lander would score again on a pair of free throws from Moorer with 8:10 left.
Georgia College would tie things up at 44-44 with 7:35 before Colvin hit a jumper to put Lander back up by two. The Bobcats would eventually take the lead after tying the game at 46 and 48 after a free throw to make it a 49-48 contest.
Lander and Georgia College would be tied at 53-53 with 3:02 after a Sebastian Augustave jumper in the paint, but a 3-pointer and free throws from the Bobcats pushed the lead to five, giving Georgia College a 58-53 victory on home court.
Lander returns home to face Georgia Southwestern on February 19 for a 3:30 pm start.
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