AUGUSTA, GA. – A strong second half put the Lander men's basketball team to upset yet another opponent in the PBC Tournament, but the Bearcats wouldn't be able to extend their postseason as they fell 67-62 to No. 25 Flagler Friday evening.
Tommy Moore led the Bearcats in scoring with 13 points. Jared Sherfield, Zane Rankin and Nigel Colvin joined Moore in double-figure scoring.
Lander concludes the season at 14-15 overall while Flagler moves to 23-6 overall.
The Saints got off to a hot start, as the No. 25 team in the country got out to an 8-2 start. Moore had the first five points for Lander off a jumper and 3-point shot to make it an 8-5 contest with 15:20 left in the first half.
The Saints would push the lead to 14-6 before a 3-pointer from Colvin and a monstrous dunk from Sherfield brought Lander within three of Flagler, making it a 14-11 contest with 11:46 left.
Flagler would stretch its lead to 32-19 after an 18-8 run with 4:29 left in the first half. A 3-pointer from Rankin along with layups from Moorer helped Lander get within 13, as the Bearcats trailed 42-29 at the half.
The Bearcats shot 11-of-22 (50%) and 5-of-11 from 3-point range (45.5%) in the first frame of action.
Lander stuck around in the second half, even putting a late scare into the No. 2 seeded Saints.
After the Saints started the second half with a dunk, Lander went on a 9-2 run to get within 10 of Flagler, with Sherfield leading the way with four points in that stretch to make it a 48-38 contest. The two sides would battle for most of the second frame until Lander started to make strides. After four straight free throws, Lander cut the Saint's lead to 60-53. A layup and free throw from Moorer made it a 61-56 contest with 2:27 left while Rankin cut the lead to four points with two free throws to make it a 62-58 game.
A jumper and some free throws put Flagler up by seven with nine seconds remaining.
Lander shot 42 percent from the field on the day against Flagler and 27.3 percent from 3-point range while going 14-of-15 from the free-throw line.
#cLawsUp | @LanderMBB
