AIKEN, S.C. – The Lander Bearcats were outscored 40-14 over the final 15 minutes and lost to Columbus State 65-54 in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon at USC-Aiken's Convocation Center.
Lander fell to 20-9 and will await to see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
The Cougars improved to 16-12.
The Bearcats led 40-25 with 15:13 left. But after that, Columbus State made 12 of its final 17 shots from the floor while Lander hit only four of its last 19.
The Bearcats still led 46-36 inside the 10-minute mark. But the Cougars turned the game around with a 21-2 run.
Dominic Stanford paced Lander with 14 points. Noah Dunn hit three 3-pointers in the first half and finished with nine points. Inady Legiste had eight points and eight rebounds for the Bearcats while Jacob Cooper led them with five assists.
Winston Uboh paced Columbus State with 20 points, Kordell Brown scored 18 and Marquis Davison added 17. The trio scored 55 of the team's 65 points.
The first of Dunn's three 3-pointers gave Lander an 11-10 lead with 13:34 left in the opening half. The Blue and Gold would not trail again until under five minutes left in the game.
Dunn swished another trey from the top of the key, yet another 3-pointer from the left side, Nigel Colvin made a put-back, and Legiste drove inside for a layup as the Bearcats led 21-12 at the eight-minute mark.
The Cougars had missed 14 of their first 17 shots from the floor including their last seven before Davison's trey pulled them within 21-15 with 6:51 left.
Ajank Aguek nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner and Stanford added a trey from the left wing as Lander led 27-18 with four minutes to go.
The Bearcats missed their final six shots of the first half – all from behind the arc – but led 27-21 at the intermission. Columbus State made only six shots (out of 23) in the first half.
Lander took its first double-digit lead early in the second half when Jeremiah Holloway took a defensive rebound and drove nearly the length of the floor for a bucket and then Stanford made a 3-pointer for a 32-21 advantage.
The Bearcats took their biggest lead of the game at 40-25 with 15:13 to go when Holloway followed a Torrin Andrews driving layup with one of his own, was fouled and converted the three-point play.
Stanford drove the baseline and made a spin move in the lane, converting a layup giving Lander a 46-36 lead with 10:34 to go.
But Columbus State answered with a game-changing 21-2 run.
Brown's three-point play, Uboh's two free throws, and another Brown basket in the paint helped pull the Cougars within 47-44 with eight minutes left.
Brown scored again in the paint as Columbus State cut its deficit to 48-46 with 7:25 remaining.
Brown converted two free throws to tie the game at 48-all with 5:21 left.
Jarrett Adderton's two free throws gave Columbus State its first lead since early in the first half at 50-48 with 4:43 to go.
Uboh's 3-pointer increased the Cougar lead to 53-48 with 3:51 left. His put-back upped Columbus State's advantage to seven with two minutes to go.
Adderton's put-back increased the Cougar advantage to 57-48 with 1:15 left.
Stanford's 3-pointer from the left corner ended the Bearcats' 0-for-8 shooting drought, their first field goal in almost nine minutes, pulling them within 57-51 with 1:01 to go. Lander was held to just two free throws during that stretch.
Brown and Davison added breakaway dunks in the final minute as Columbus State put the game away.
