GREENWOOD – Phillip Burwell scored 22 points while Dominic Stanford added a double-double as the Lander Bearcats beat non-conference opponent Virginia State 83-55 Sunday afternoon at Horne Arena.

Lander improved to 2-1 on the season. The Trojans fell to 1-2.

Burwell made nine of 14 shots from the floor while leading the Bearcats with four assists and three steals.

Nigel Colvin added 15 points for Lander while Noah Dunn contributed 14 points.

Stanford led the Bearcats with 13 rebounds, 10 on the defensive end. He was Lander's fourth double-figure scorer with 10 points.

Kendall Bynum paced Virginia State with 12 points, Imhotep George scored 11 and Tremere Brown 10.

The Bearcats started off cold as Virginia State built a 13-5 lead on Brown's layup with 14:50 left in the first half.

Lander responded with a 22-4 run, taking a 15-13 advantage with 12:02 left when Burwell converted a three-point play on a driving layup.

The run continued as Colvin hit a 3-pointer and then Dunn added a trey from NBA range, giving the Bearcats their first double-digit lead at 27-17 with eight minutes to go.

Lander's offense stalled as the Trojans pulled within 29-25 on Bynum's driving layup with 4:14 left. 

The Bearcats closed the first half with a 10-3 run over the last three-plus minutes, starting with Burwell's floater. Stanford drove to the hole for a basket and followed with a 3-pointer from the right corner, and Torrin Andrews added a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Lander led 39-28 at halftime.

Burwell's second three-point play of the game gave the Bearcats a 42-30 advantage with 17:45 left as he converted a steal into a layup. 

Tommy Moore's 3-pointer gave Lander a 45-32 lead at the 16-minute mark. Dunn knocked down a trey and added a bucket in the lane helping extend the Bearcat lead to 54-38 inside 13 minutes to go.

Dunn's transition 3-pointer from the top of the key gave Lander a 59-43 advantage with 9:18 left.

Colvin's steal and driving layup extended the Bearcat lead to 62-43 inside the eight-minute mark. Burwell made a pair of driving layups to help Lander's advantage grow beyond 20.

Colvin's 3-pointer increased the Bearcat lead to 77-51 with 2:35 left.

Stanford and Jeremiah Holloway added 3-pointers in the final minute to close the scoring for Lander. It was Holloway's first basket of his college career.

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