DAHLONEGA, GA. – Although leading with nine seconds left in the second half after a Jacob Cooper layup, the No. 24 North Georgia Nighthawks hit a pair of last-second free throws to take a 63-62 victory on their home court on Saturday.
Lander falls to 17-7 overall and 9-5 in the PBC while North Georgia moves to 18-4 overall and 11-3 in the PBC.
Cooper led the Bearcats in scoring with 11 points along with having six assists and rebounds. Jared Sherfield and Noah Dunn both had 10 points each, with Sherfield close to a double-double with eight rebounds.
Lander would be the first to strike as Tommy Moore hit a jumper 30 32 seconds into the contest.
The Nighthawks would tack on the next three points before Nigel Colvin drained a 3-pointer to put Lander up 5-3 with 17:29.
The Bearcats and Nighthawks would trade buckets with a pair of layups going for each squad.
North Georgia would the game at 7-7 after a pair of free throws fell at the 16:04 mark before taking the lead on a layup with 15:45.
The Nighthawks extended their lead to six after a layup gave the home side a 16-10 lead with 13:12 remaining in the first half.
A 3-pointer and layup from Noah Dunn got the Bearcats within one point of North Georgia with 11:56 left before a layup and two free throws got the Nighthawks back in front by five with 10:24 left.
Ajang Aguek would convert a layup with the clock under 10 minutes remaining to make it a 20-17 contest.
North Georgia would go up by eight after a pair of free throws gave the Nighthawks a 29-21 lead before Jacob Cooper hit a 3-pointer to make it a five-point game with 5:04 left. A layup from Cooper made it a 29-26 game.
After North Georgia made one free throw, Dominic Stanford would put in a layup with 3:09 to make it a 30-28 contest.
The Nighthawks would stretch its lead to five but a put-back dunk from Stanford off a shot from Jaylon Pugh put it back to a three-point contest.
Lander shot 12-of-33 from the field in the first half along with 4-of-14 from 3-point range and 2-of-7 from the free-throw line. North Georgia went 10-of-26 from the field in the first half along with 1-of-9 from 3-point range and 12-of-14 from the free throw line.
Lander would come out of the half with three straight points to tie the Nighthawks 33-33 after Colvin made a layup and Maise hit a free throw with 18:27 left. After a North Georgia 3-pointer to put the Nighthawks up three, Maise hit a layup to make it a one-point game with 17:38 left.
The Bearcats would get within one point of North Georgia again with 15:54 after Tommy Moore hit a layup to make it a 38-37 game. Lander would get the game tied at 40-40 after Jared Sherfield hit a free throw and then would take the lead on the proceeding free throw with 13:50 left.
North Georgia would proceed to seven straight points to go up 47-41 before Lander would counter with an 8-0 run that featured 3-pointers from Dunn and Sherfield and a layup from Dunn as well to give Lander a 49-47 lead with 7:36 left in the second half.
The score would be tied once more, this time at 51 with 6:45 left in the final frame.
North Georgia would go up 56-51 before Stanford made a layup and Sherfield hit a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 56 with 2:04.
Lander and North Georgia would find themselves tied with 1:27 left as the score would be 58-58 with both teams hitting free throws.
A layup from Jacob Cooper would push Lander in front 62-61 with nine seconds left by a pair of free throws late would give North Georgia a 63-62 final score.
Lander shot 24-of-61 from the field for the game while going 7-of-25 from 3-point range and 7-of-14 from the free-throw line. North Georgia went 20-of-52 from the field for the game while going 2-of-14 from 3-point range and 21-of-24 from the free throw line.
Lander returns to Horne Arena for its next test, as the Bobcats of Georgia College come to Greenwood, S.C. on February 15.
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