GREENWOOD –
Noah Dunn scored 18 points and posted a double-double as the Lander Bearcats easily defeated Converse 86-42 Tuesday night at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 4-3 while the Valkyries fell to 1-5. The Blue and Gold had runs of 20-2 in the first half and 20-3 in the second half.
It was a good tune-up for the Bearcats, who host 11th-ranked USC Aiken Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in their Peach Belt Conference opener.
Dunn paced Lander with 18 points and 12 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end. He made six of 10 shots from the floor including four of six from behind the 3-point arc.
Dominic Stanford scored 16 points on six of 10 shooting for the Bearcats.
Inady Legiste dominated the post, scoring 14 points on seven of 11 shooting for the Blue and Gold.
Terry Leonard Jr. added 11 points off the Lander bench.
Jeremiah Holloway paced the Bearcats with five assists.
Jay Mitchell led Converse with 13 points, making three 3-pointers. But the Valkyries shot only 27 percent from the floor (15 for 56).
"We locked in defensively," Lander head coach
Omar Wattad said. "We did everything we were supposed to do on the defensive side of the ball. A credit to our guys for really being focused the entire 40 minutes of the game."
The Bearcats shot very well, making 33 of 66 shots (50 percent) including 14 of 31 from behind the arc (45 percent).
"We shoot very well (from 3-point range) and also touched paint (dominating inside)," Wattad said.
The Bearcats out-rebounded Converse 46-32. Legiste had eight rebounds while
Caleb Williams added seven for the hosts.
Lander stormed out to a 20-2 lead in the first nine-plus minutes as Dunn made two 3-pointers,
Tim Steele and Stanford also hit from long range, and Legiste scored twice in the paint. On the defensive end, the Bearcats held Converse to 1-for-9 shooting and Legiste had two blocked shots.
Kervens Yacinthe and Mitchell made back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Valkyries within 20-8.
Holloway nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner and Dunn swished a fade-away jumper from the free-throw line as Lander took its first 20-point lead at 31-11 with 4:46 left.
Steele made two 3-pointers and Stanford converted a driving layup as the Bearcats built their advantage to 41-20 at halftime.
Lander opened the second half with a 9-0 run, expanding its lead to 30 points at 50-20 with 15:15 to go.
Andrews started the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, Legiste scored in the post, Holloway threw a long pass to Andrews in stride for a layup, and Andrews delivered a no-look, back door pass to Stanford for a two-handed slam dunk.
Dunn, Stanford and Leonard Jr. hit from long range as the Bearcats led comfortably 69-34 with 7:37 left.
The lead grew to 80-37 with 4:44 to go as Dunn swished a long 3-pointer and then Leonard Jr. scored eight consecutive points with a three-point play, a driving layup, and a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Jake Tringone made one of two free throws and
Greyson Pritzl added a driving layup as Lander extended its run to 20-3, leading 83-37 with 2:48 left.
Tringone added the first 3-pointer of his Bearcats career with 40 seconds left to complete the scoring.
