COLUMBUS, Ga. – Peach Belt Conference action commenced Wednesday night for the Lander men's basketball team, and with it came a game that was within single digits for the majority, but the host Columbus State Cougars came away with a 64-60 win at the Lumpkin Center.
The Bearcats are now 5-2, 0-1 PBC and the Cougars moved to 6-2, 1-0 PBC.
Down nine with 2:30 to play,
Terry Leonard Jr. and
Antewan Webber Jr. quickly turned the game on its head after sinking 3s on successive possessions and made it a three-point, 59-56 game with 1:44 left.
Lander's press proved effective on the subsequent CSU inbound and forced a turnover.
Late in their possession with a second on the shot clock,
Jacob Daniels lobbed an inbound pass to
Dylan Canoville who was fouled going up for a shot. He made the back end of the pair of free throws to make it a 59-57 score with 1:10 remaining.
A timely Cougars three-pointer on the next possession made it a five-point game, followed by two free throws that put it out of reach.
Leonard led all scorers with 18 points and
Greyson Pritzl added 14. Pritzl also had five rebounds and four assists.
Navaughn Maise pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
The Bearcats used a 10-2 run during the first half to tie the game at 20.
Pritzl hit a trey to start it, which was followed up by
Jake Tringone's layup. Pritzl made a layup of his own before Tringone assisted on Leonard's 3 with seven minutes left in the half. The Cougars led 30-25 at the break.
Lander is back home at
Finis Horne Arena this Saturday, Dec. 6 to face USC Beaufort in a 3:30 p.m. tip-off.
