GREENWOOD – Jarrett Adderton totaled 18 points and 15 rebounds as Peach Belt Conference leader Columbus State defeated the Lander Bearcats 74-65 Sunday afternoon at Horne Arena.
Lander fell to 10-7 overall, 4-3 in the PBC. The 17th-ranked Cougars are 15-2, 6-1.
Noah Dunn led all scorers with 21 points, scoring nine points for the Bearcats in the last three minutes of the game.
Greyson Pritzl added 14 points while leading Lander with four assists.
Inady Legiste scored 11 points for the Blue and Gold while
Jeremiah Holloway led the team with eight rebounds.
Kordell Brown and Roman Son added 14 points apiece for Columbus State, Wisdom Uboh scored 11 points, and Jehloni James contributed 11 rebounds.
"It's not all one thing. We had inaccurate passes that led to missed shots. It falls on me," Bearcats head coach
Omar Wattad said. "We held him (Adderton) in check in the first half, two of six, six points. In the second half, he got going. He started going down main street with no rim protection."
The Bearcats trailed 15-10 when Legiste made a tough layup through three defenders and then Dunn hit a game-tying 3-pointer from the right side, making it 15-all with 13:10 left in the opening half.
Columbus State built a 32-25 lead with five minutes to go on Adderton's mid-range jumper. But Lander responded with an 8-0 run to take a 33-32 lead.
Dunn started the run with a driving layup,
Terry Leonard Jr. laid it in on an alley-oop pass from
Tim Steele, Leonard Jr. collected a steal and layup, and Holloway made a driving layup for the 33-32 lead with 2:50 left.
After two more lead changes, the Cougars were up 37-36 at halftime.
Columbus State led 44-40 early in the second half, but Pritzl tied it with consecutive layups. He made a back-door layup off a pass from
Caleb Williams and then drove through several defenders for the game-tying bucket.
Holloway's euro step layup put Lander on top 46-45 at the 15-minute mark. But it would be the team's last lead.
The Cougars went on a 15-5 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 60-51 with 8:39 to go. Leonard Jr. made a 3-pointer to pull the Blue and Gold within 60-54.
But Columbus State scored the next nine points to build on its lead, making it 69-55 inside the five-minute mark.
Dunn kept Lander's chances alive with a three-point play and two 3-pointers during a 9-0 run that pulled the hosts within 71-65 with 1:25 left. But Columbus State clinched the win at the free-throw line.
