GREENWOOD – Dylan Canoville and
Jacob Daniels scored a combined 43 points as the Lander Bearcats pulled away from Peach Belt Conference rival USCA 84-70 Saturday afternoon at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 9-4 overall, 4-1 in the PBC. The Pacers fell to 7-6, 2-3.
Canoville led the Bearcats with 22 points on eight of 10 shooting from the floor while adding three blocked shots. Daniels scored 21 points on eight of 12 shooting while leading Lander with seven assists.
Greyson Pritzl made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points for the Bearcats.
Bobby Crawford Jr. added eight points, including three dunks, for the Blue and Gold.
Navaughn Maise also scored eight for Lander.
Caleb Byrd paced USCA with 21 points, scoring at least 20 points for the sixth straight game. Mccaskill Rivers scored 16 points for the Pacers.
The Bearcats out-shot USCA in a big way. Lander hit 31 of 52 shots from the floor (60 percent) to 21 of 60 for the Pacers (35 percent).
The Bearcats also out-rebounded USCA 35-33. The Pacers came into the game ranked in the top 10 nationally in rebounding.
"Aiken is tough. They are gritty. I thought we took their punches and did what we were supposed to do," Lander head coach
Omar Wattad said. "We had 20 assists. We guarded them. They were 21 of 60."
There were three ties and three lead changes in the first 10 minutes of the game, the last of those ties coming with 9:58 left on a put-back by USCA's Jackson Roberts making it 16-all.
Canoville gave the Bearcats the lead for good by turning a layup into a three-point play, making it 19-16. The three-point play gave Canoville 11 consecutive Lander points, including a dunk and a mid-range jumper.
Canoville's three-point play ignited a 15-4 run for the Blue and Gold, stretching its lead to 31-20 with four minutes to go.
Tommy Moore swished a 3-pointer, and then Daniels made a floater and 3-pointer while also assisting on two Crawford dunks during the run.
But the Pacers responded with 10 unanswered points with Montraivis White's three-point play pulling the visitors within 31-30 just inside the two-minute mark.
Daniels converted a driving layup and Pritzl nailed a 3-pointer as Lander led 36-33 at halftime.
The Bearcats maintained their narrow lead into the second half as Pritzl made his second trey of the game while Daniels and his high school teammate Crawford hooked up twice more – Crawford finishing with a layup and a dunk making it 43-37.
Maise's two free throws gave Lander a 50-44 lead with 13:39 to go. But Byrd's free throws cut USCA's deficit to 50-49 with 12:52 left.
Daniels made two free throws, capping a 12-4 run as the Bearcats led 62-53 with 8:38 left. Two more Daniels free throws made it 69-61 with 5:36 to go.
Maise gave Lander its first double-digit lead of the second half when he swished a 3-pointer from the right corner, making it 75-65 with 3:04 left.
Pritzl nailed a trey from the same spot as the lead grew to 78-65 with 2:28 to go.
