AUGUSTA, Ga. – In their first of two meetings this week, the Lander men's basketball team narrowly fell to the host Augusta Jaguars by a score of 76-73 on Monday night at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
Lander is now 14-10 this season and 8-6 in the Peach Belt Conference while Augusta is 17-7 and 11-3 in conference.
Noah Dunn set a new season high with 29 points including a near automatic night from 3-point land as he made 8 of 12 attempts. Dunn also pulled down a season best 13 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double and third of the season.
Inady Legiste had 17 points, four rebounds and three blocks, and
Torrin Andrews scored 16.
With the Bearcats trailing 74-70 with 14 seconds left in the game, Dunn found space on an inbound play and sank a 3-pointer to cut the Jaguars lead to a single point with seven seconds remaining.
After two Augusta conversions from the free-throw line,
Sebastian Augustave was able to get off a clean look at the buzzer for the tie but it didn't drop.
The largest lead for either side in this one was seven points – a lead Lander held on a few occasions.
Augusta took a 34-31 lead into halftime, though the Bearcats found themselves leading 52-45 six-plus minutes into the closing half as they outscored the hosts by 10 over that stretch.
The Jaguars tied the game at 52 and again at 58. A pair of Andrews free throws gave the Blue and Gold its last lead, 65-64, with 2:53 to play.
Both sides will have a quicker-than-normal turnaround with another date on Wednesday night in Horne Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30.
