GREENWOOD – The No. 17 Lander Bearcats went on a 3-point rampage, hitting 18 treys in a dominant 78-60 victory over No. 5 North Georgia in a Peach Belt Conference showdown Wednesday night at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 13-2 overall, 5-0 in the Peach Belt with its sixth consecutive victory.
The Bearcats ended North Georgia's nine-game winning streak. The Nighthawks fell to 13-2 overall, 4-1 in the PBC.
Eighteen of Lander's 26 made baskets were from behind the arc. The Bearcats shot 44 percent from deep (18 for 41).
Inady Legiste led the way for Lander with 19 points, making five of eight 3-pointers and adding three blocked shots.
Phillip Burwell was the team's second leading scorer with 15 points, hitting three of five attempts from behind the arc while pacing the Bearcats with six rebounds and adding four assists. Jacob Cooper led the Blue and Gold with five assists.
Nigel Colvin made a trio of treys and finished with 11 points for Lander. Noah Dunn also hit three 3-pointers and scored nine points for the Bearcats Torrin Andrews swished the first two Lander treys while Dominic Stanford and Cooper added one apiece.
Cayden Charles paced North Georgia with 14 points while Giancarlo Bastianoni added 12 points.
The Bearcats opened their offensive attack almost exclusively behind the arc, taking 12 of their first 14 shots from deep.
Andrews hit Lander's first two treys, Legiste made the next two and Dunn added another giving the Bearcats a 15-9 lead with 12:46 left in the first half.
Ajang Aguek scored Lander's first two two-point baskets of the game, driving from the corner to make a layup and then taking an alley-oop pass from Cooper for a dunk and a 19-9 lead at the 11-minute mark.
Colvin and Cooper got into the 3-point act, each hitting one as the Bearcat lead grew to 25-12 with 9:35 left.
Stanford's tough driving layup gave Lander a 27-15 advantage at the eight-minute mark. But Frank Champion and A.J. White led the Nighthawks on an 11-0 run as the visitors drew within 27-26 with 3:42 left.
The Bearcats ended the run in typical fashion with the 3-pointer. Colvin made a trey from the left wing to break the drought. Then after Aguek knocked a North Georgia interior pass away to Jeremiah Holloway for a steal, Holloway found Colvin open in the left corner for another 3-pointer making it 33-26 with 2:20 to go.
Lander led 33-28 at halftime with nine of its 12 field goals coming from behind the arc.
Leading 37-33, the Bearcats went on a game-breaking 15-0 run naturally fueled by the 3-ball.
Andrews opened the scoring with a free throw and Legiste made a layup in traffic. Then Lander followed with four treys in a row. Burwell made the first with the shot clock winding down, Legiste hit an open 3-pointer from the left corner, Dunn swished one and Burwell added another as the Bearcats suddenly had a comfortable 52-33 lead at the 13-minute mark.
Legiste's fourth trey gave Lander its first 20-point lead of the game at 55-35 with 11:05 to go. At that point, 15 of the 19 Bearcat buckets were from 3-point range.
Lander went back inside for its next eight points. Burwell backed down his defender for a bucket and added a pair of free throws, Colvin tapped in an offensive rebound, and Burwell added a driving layup for a 63-42 advantage with 7:50 left.
Burwell made his third trey of the second half and Holloway added four free throws as the Bearcats led 70-48 with 5:36 to go.
Lander wasn't done from 3-point range as Dunn and Legiste each hit a trey to expand the lead.
