GREENWOOD – Greyson Pritzl scored a career-high 30 points as the first-place Lander Bearcats blasted Peach Belt Conference opponent Middle Georgia 107-83 Saturday afternoon at Horne Arena.
It was a season high in points for Lander as the team improved to 12-4 overall, 7-2 in the Peach Belt with its third consecutive victory. The Knights fell to 7-9, 3-6 in the PBC.
Pritzl made 10 of 15 shots from the floor including seven of 12 from behind the 3-point arc. The junior guard's previous career high was 25 points as a freshman for St. Leo. His LU career high was 24 points.
Jacob Daniels made his first six shots from the floor and finished with 16 points for the Bearcats. The freshman guard led Lander with five assists and didn't miss a shot until there were eight minutes left in the game, finishing six for seven from the floor.
Dylan Canoville also scored 16 points for the Bearcats, while leading the team with six rebounds and three steals. He did most of his scoring damage in the second half.
Antewan Webber Jr. also did most of his scoring after halftime, finishing with 14 points for Lander.
Tommy Moore shared team high honors with three steals.
The Bearcats surpassed the 100-point mark for the second time this season, accomplishing the feat with more than three minutes left before emptying their bench.
Breon Steele and
Reid Stodghill came off the Lander bench and each had dunks to punctuate the victory. It was Stodghill's first points of his college career and one of seven Bearcat dunks.
Lander made 37 of 63 shots from the floor (59 percent) including 12 of 30 from 3-point territory (40 percent).
"I thought we played well offensively and that's how we pulled it off," Lander head coach
Omar Wattad said. "We had 18 assists, 12 three-pointers, and touched paint a bunch of times. I'm pleased. I think we played unselfishly."
"I am disappointed in our defense and pleased with our offense," Wattad said, adding that Daniels is the "best freshman in the conference" and that Pritzl was "really, really good."
Pritzl and Daniels dominated from the start, scoring 17 of Lander's first 19 points as the Bearcats led 19-4 with 16:30 left in the opening half. Each made a pair of 3-pointers, Pritzl also converted a layup into a three-point play, and Daniels added two free throws.
Moore stole a pass on the defensive side of the court and delivered a bounce pass to Canoville for a driving dunk, giving the Blue and Gold a 23-9 lead with 13:37 to go.
Daniel Lamonte's 3-pointer cut Middle Georgia's deficit to 27-20 with 9:37 left. But Lander scored six unanswered as Webber made a driving layup, Canoville got a steal and dunk, and Daniels also added a steal and scored on a breakaway for a 33-20 lead with 8:34 to go.
Pritzl swished his third and fourth 3-pointers, Webber had an emphatic blocked shot on one end and a 3-pointer on the other, and
Jake Tringone hammered a dunk in transition as the Bearcats built their lead to 50-37 at halftime.
Lander opened its second-half scoring when Daniels fed a back-door pass to
Bobby Crawford Jr. for a dunk.
The next four Bearcat buckets were layups as Pritzl scored on a back-door pass from
Navaughn Maise, Crawford drove past a defender for two, Daniels cashed in a steal, and Pritzl cut to the basket and converted a no-look pass from Daniels for a 61-43 advantage with 15:46 left.
Canoville scored 12 of Lander's next 15 points including three buckets in the paint and six free throws as the home squad led 76-57 with 9:20 to go.
Pritzl swished three 3-pointers in a row including a step-back trey which gave the Bearcats a 101-72 lead with 3:23 left. Webber followed with a steal and dunk as the lead grew to 31.
Steele's emphatic put-back dunk off a teammate's missed 3-pointer added to Lander's fun afternoon. If that weren't enough, Stodghill took a lob pass from
Desmond Evans for another Bearcats dunk to complete the scoring.
