GREENWOOD – The 15th-ranked Lander Bearcats shut down the nation's fifth-highest scoring offense and got 25 points from Dominic Stanford in a 94-69 Peach Belt Conference victory over USC Beaufort Wednesday night at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 17-4 overall, 9-2 in the Peach Belt Conference. The Bearcats trail only North Georgia (10-1) in the PBC standings.
The Sand Sharks fell to 10-9 overall, 3-8 in the league.
Despite USC Beaufort's poor conference record, it entered the game as the nation's fifth highest-scoring team with almost 95 points per game. Lander held the Sand Sharks 25 points below their season average as the visitors made only 25 of 73 shots from the floor (34 percent), seven of 31 from 3-point range (23 percent) and 12 of 24 free throws (50 percent).
The Bearcats made 34 of 61 shots (56 percent) including 13 of 27 (48 percent) from behind the arc. The Blue and Gold dished out 19 assists in the game.
Stanford led Lander with 25 points on nine of 14 shooting while sharing team high honors with seven rebounds.
Torrin Andrews scored 13 points for the Bearcats. Phillip Burwell added 12 points for Lander on 5-for-5 shooting and blocked two shots.
Nigel Colvin added 11 points and led the Bearcats with five steals. Noah Dunn added seven rebounds and two blocked shots for Lander.
Tommy Moore led the Blue and Gold with seven assists. Jacob Cooper had eight points and five assists.
Lander scored from long range with 13 treys and from close range with six dunks, including three by Stanford and two by Connor McKay.
Nolan Paladagu paced USC Beaufort with 15 points, Kevaughn Price scored 13 points and Marcus Overstreet added a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards.
Stanford scored Lander's first nine points of the game, staking the hosts to a 9-3 lead with 17:35 left in the opening half.
Moore drove inside into a double team and passed in the paint to Stanford for a dunk. Stanford made a 3-pointer from the right corner and then took an alley-oop pass from Burwell for already his second dunk of the night.
Colvin and Dunn made 3-pointers, Cooper went coast-to-coast for a layup, and McKay converted an interior pass from Cooper into a layup giving the Bearcats a 20-6 advantage with 12:12 to go.
The Sand Sharks used an 8-1 run to pull within 23-16. Andrews answered with a 3-pointer from the right corner giving Lander a 26-16 lead with 6:40 left, igniting a run of 10 unanswered points.
Stanford made two free throws, Burwell beat an expiring shot clock with a 3-pointer and then backed his defender underneath the basket for a layup to complete the run as the Blue and Gold led 33-16.
The Bearcats closed the half with a Colvin 3-pointer from the right corner and Burwell's alley-oop pass to Stanford for his third dunk giving them a 42-21 halftime lead.
USC Beaufort hit only 22 percent (8-for-36) from the floor and 25 percent from the line (2 for 8) in the opening half. Lander held the Sand Sharks to three for 17 shooting from behind the arc (18 percent).
The Bearcats were off and running in the second half as a pair of Stanford baskets and an Andrews 3-pointer gave them a 51-29 lead with 17:34 left in the game.
Stanford swished a 3-pointer, McKay dunked off an alley-oop pass from Moore, Burwell made a driving layup, McKay slashed to the basket for another two-handed slam, Andrews made a fade-away jumper, and Stanford swished yet another trey making it 67-35 with 12:37 to go.
Ajang Aguek dunked off an inbounds lob from Burwell and Cooper drove for an uncontested layup giving Lander nine makes out of its last 10 attempts and a 72-47 lead with 10:20 left.
Colvin and Stanford added 3-pointers and Burwell made his fifth shot out of five attempts as the Bearcat lead was 88-60 with 3:43 to go.
Sebastian Augustave made a step-back 3-pointer in front of an exuberant Lander bench, making it 91-65 with 1:55 left. Augustave added another long trey from the left wing in the waning seconds for the game's final points.
