GREENWOOD – Jared Sherfield scored 18 points while Noah Dunn made five 3-pointers in the first half as the Lander Bearcats rolled to an impressive 81-63 victory over No. 11-ranked Augusta in Peach Belt Conference action Wednesday night at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 17-6 overall and 9-4 in the Peach Belt.
The Jaguars fell to 19-4, 10-3.
The Bearcats avenged an 81-78 loss at Augusta on Jan. 11. Lander beat a nationally-ranked Jaguars team at Horne Arena for the second consecutive season.
Sherfield scored 18 points on five of seven shooting from the floor while leading the Bearcats with eight rebounds.
Jacob Cooper scored 15 points and added five assists for Lander. Dunn also scored 15 points, all in the first half.
Tommy Moore had a strong all-around game for the Bearcats with 11 points, a team-leading seven assists, and also six boards. Moore had no turnovers from his guard position.
Lander made 28 of 53 shots from the floor (53 percent) including 14 of 26 from behind the arc (54 percent).
Tyshaun Crawford, listed as 7-foot-1 and 263 pounds, led Augusta with 22 points on eight of 11 shooting, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Ja'Queze Kirby added 16 points for the Jaguars while Miguel Arnold scored 11 points.
After missing their first shot of the game, the Bearcats made their next five attempts to build a 15-6 lead. Sherfield opened the scoring with a 3-pointer off a long inbounds pass from Moore, Nigel Colvin stepped inside the arc and made a shot, Navaughn Maise swished a baseline jumper, Dominic Stanford knocked down a trey from the right corner, and Dunn nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a nine-point advantage with 14:23 left in the half.
After the lead was cut to 17-12, Dunn caught fire with 3-pointers on three consecutive Bearcat possessions making it 26-16 with 8:50 to go.
Cooper lost the ball in the lane, picked it back up and made a layup, and then added a step-back 3-pointer, giving Lander a 31-18 lead with 7:28 to go.
Colvin converted a three-point play and after a three-minute team scoring drought from the field, Dunn ended it with his fifth trey making it 38-22 with 3:13 left.
Cooper made a long 3-pointer from well beyond the top of the key, giving the Blue and Gold a 41-28 lead in the final seconds. But Arnold responded with a trey at the other end, pulling the Jaguars within 41-31 at the break.
Augusta rallied within 47-45 in the opening five minutes of the second half as Kirby had two 3-pointers and a dunk during the 14-6 run.
With the lead down to 49-47, the Bearcats got some breathing room. Moore swished a 3-pointer from the left corner, Cooper dropped a defender with a spin move on a driving layup, and Cooper scored again on an up-and-under layup to make it 56-47 with 12:18 to go.
Crawford's two free throws pulled the Jaguars within 56-53. But Moore hit a 3-pointer and Cooper converted a three-point play after Crawford was called for goal-tending and a foul, giving Lander a 62-53 advantage at the 10-minute mark.
The Bearcats never looked back.
Another Moore 3-pointer extended the Blue and Gold's lead back into double digits at 65-53 with 8:13 left.
Sherfield made a 3-pointer from the right corner off a wrap-around baseline pass from Moore as the shot clock was expiring, upping the Lander advantage to 69-55 with 7:02 to go.
The Bearcats added two free throws after Augusta Coach Dip Metress was whistled for two technical fouls and then Sherfield made an open 3-pointer making it 75-60 with 3:05 left.
Sherfield made a layup off a lob pass from Cooper and added a put-back of a teammate's missed 3-pointer as Lander continued to extend its lead.
Maise punctuated the victory when he took a pass from Cooper up the baseline and dunked it for an 81-63 advantage with 36 seconds to go.
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