MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Trailing at halftime meant little to the Lander men's basketball team at the Centennial Center on Wednesday night, as they dropped 56 points in the second half en route to a 93-81 road win over Georgia College to remain atop the Peach Belt standings midway through conference play.
LU is now 13-4 overall and 8-2 in the PBC thanks to the second-half barrage.
That's not to say they didn't shoot the ball well over the first 20 minutes, either. The Bearcats made 12 of 20 shots during the opening half, including 4 of 9 from downtown as they trailed 43-37.
They coupled that with 16-of-25 shooting during the second half and a scorching 5-of-8 performance from 3-point land.
That left them with a 62.2% field-goal percentage for the game to go along with a 52.9% rate beyond the arc.
Greyson Pritzl produced his second consecutive game of at least 25 points after last Saturday's 30-point outburst. He had 25 on 6-of-10 shooting with five treys and eight free throws.
Dylan Canoville made a number of terrific plays throughout the night and finished with 16 points on an efficient 6 of 7 effort with a rim-rocking jam or two mixed in.
Freshman
Jacob Daniels continued his stellar play with 16 points and a team-leading five assists in 36 minutes.
Navaughn Maise had 10 points, seven boards and four assists while
Bobby Crawford Jr. made it five Bearcats in double-figures with 10 points of his own.
Lander found themselves down 22-12 seven minutes into the game but showed some resolve and cut that deficit to 24-19 with 9:30 left.
That margin steadied over the next five minutes before
Terry Leonard Jr.'s shot from deep made it 33-30 Bobcats four minutes before the halftime horn.
The Bearcats closed to within one, 38-37, on Pritzl's second 3 of the game but didn't score over the final 1:30 of the half.
Another trey from Leonard trimmed GCSU's (11-7, 6-4) advantage back to one with 16:30 to play in the second half. Crawford's lay-in on the next possession gave LU a 50-49 lead that they wouldn't give away as it turned out.
The Bobcats certainly didn't go away quietly, the score reading 67-63 with less than eight minutes remaining, and still 74-69 with five minutes to go.
Canoville, though, took some life out of the Bobcats when he cut off the passing lane and took it all the way to the rack himself on the break. Pritzl followed with a 3-ball to give LU somebreathing room and a 10-point lead.
Canoville again gathered a bad pass, and this time punished the rim for an 81-69 lead to make the result a mere formality at the 4:00 mark.
Lander's defense forced GCSU into 16 turnovers tonight and registered 12 steals. That led to 23 points off turnovers and 20 fast-break points. They also held the Bobcats to 43.5% shooting (27 of 62).
Weather may impact this weekend's schedule, but as it currently sits, Lander is set to host Columbus State on Saturday (Jan. 24) in a 3:30 p.m. contest inside
Finis Horne Arena.
