BLUFFTON, S.C. – On the road in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Tournament on Wednesday night at "The Cove," the fifth-seeded Lander men's basketball team fought back from a second-half deficit but came up short in a 62-57 loss to No. 4 seed USC Beaufort.
The result brings the Bearcats' record to 15-14 while the Sand Sharks are now 20-9.
A trio of Bearcat seniors spearheaded the offensive effort as
Inady Legiste scored 16 points,
Torrin Andrews had 15 and
Noah Dunn, 14. Legiste also contributed a team high eight rebounds in addition to three blocks and two steals.
In fitting Peach Belt fashion, the first half was a back-and-forth battle with fast-paced scoring action to start with the score tied at 19 less than eight minutes in.
USCB was the first side to gain some breathing room via a 9-2 run that made it 28-21 with 7:47 remaining in the first half.
Trailing 33-25 three minutes later, Legiste scored three points and
Jeremiah Holloway added a layup as part of a mini 5-0 run to pull Lander within 33-30 with two minutes to play in the opening half; the Sand Sharks held a 37-30 lead after 20 minutes.
Beaufort increased its advantage to a game-high 17 points four minutes into the second half, 50-33, but the Bearcats slowly ate into their deficit and brought it down to 50-42 with 12 minutes left as Andrews and Dunn combined on a 9-0 run.
The Sand Sharks responded and increased their margin to 56-43 with nine minutes to go, but that's when Lander began its final push.
An and-one from Legiste, followed by a layup from Dunn and another lay-in from Legiste quickly narrowed the gap to 56-50 with six minutes on the clock.
Dunn later nailed a near 30-footer from the left arc to cut it to 58-55 with 1:47 remaining, and Andrews' driving layup made it 60-57 with 30 ticks left. Two USCB makes from the free-throw line were the final points of the night.
The 2025 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Selection Show will air this Sunday (March 9) at 11 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
