DAHLONEGA, Ga. – On the road for the first time in 11 days, the Lander men's basketball team fell on a buzzer beater to Peach Belt rival and 22nd-ranked North Georgia on Wednesday night at Lynn Cottrell Arena, 62-59.
Lander is now 9-6 overall with a 3-2 mark in PBC play while North Georgia improved to 12-5 and 4-1 in the tightly packed conference standings.
Torrin Andrews led the way with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three trifectas and four assists.
Inady Legiste had 13 points in addition to leading the Bearcats with six rebounds and five helpers.
Lander jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the first five minutes of the game as Andrews scored seven early points. Andrews later assisted on a
Tim Steele 3 to give the Blue and Gold an 18-12 advantage midway through the opening half.
UNG tied the game at 21 apiece before the Bearcats closed the half strong on a 15-6 run to take a 36-27 lead into the break after
Jeremiah Holloway hit a 3 as the clock wound down.
Lander nailed 8 of its 15 3-point attempts in the first half and doled out a collective 12 assists.
A pair of Andrews foul shots gave the Bearcats a 49-41 margin with 11:39 left in the game, though the Nighthawks evened the score at 49 a few minutes later.
Trailing 59-53 with 37 ticks left, Andrews connected from long range to pull the Bearcats within three. Following a Nighthawk miss on the front end of a one-and-one – and coming out of a timeout –
Noah Dunn drilled a corner 3 to tie it at 59 with five seconds to go.
The Nighthawks then called a timeout and banked in a long trey to end the game.
Lander stays on the road this weekend for a conference matchup with Georgia College in Milledgeville on Saturday (Jan. 18). Tip is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
