PBC Tournament - Lander Advances Past Columbus State 74-60

AIKEN, S.C. – Ford Lawrence scored a career-high 22 points and Brenton Harris had five blocked Wednesday night as the eighth-seeded Lander Bearcats shot 54.9 percent from the field en route to a 74-60 victory over ninth-seeded Columbus State in the first round of the Peach Belt Conference men’s basketball tournament at USC Aiken’s Convocation Center.

The Bearcats, who improve to 12-15, will face top-seeded and fifth ranked Augusta State at 1 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinal round. Columbus State finishes the season with a 9-19 record. Lander is playing the tournament without injured starters Curtis Milner and Dane Sparrow.

Lawrence connected on 7-of-11 field goals, including 4-of-5 three pointers, and was 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Houston Wright added 15 points for the Bearcats, while Greg Smalls netted 10. Smalls and Harris both had a team-high seven rebounds.

Chris Telesford led the Cougars with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Carlos Wright added 13 points and six rebounds.

Leading 37-33 at halftime, Lander opened the second half with an 8-2 run and took a 45-37 lead on Wright’s three pointer at 16:27. CSU answered with an 11-2 run to take a 48-47 lead on Telesford’s three pointer at 12:34.

Lander tied the game at 48-48 on a Darius Johnson free throw with 10:39 left then took the lead for good at 50-48 on Lawrence’s layup off a steal. Lawrence scored two more buckets to give the Bearcats a 54-48 advantage at 8:23.

Columbus broke its nearly four-minute scoring drought on Telesford’s basket at 8:03 to cut the margin to 54-50.

Lander got its first double-digit lead at 4:24 when Wright’s three made it 66-54. From there, the Cougars couldn’t cut the lead under10 points.

Lander jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the first two minutes when Lawrence netted a three and Smalls and Harris each hit field goals. Just as quick, CSU scored six unanswered points – two baskets by Telesford and a pair of free throws from Javarus Stewart – to cut the margin to 7-6 at 16:20.

Columbus took its first lead at 11-9 with 15:23 remaining in the half on Sean Miller’s three-pointer.

Trailing 22-17, Lander got a three-pointer from Jacob Machoskay and a two from Ty Beatty to tie the game 22-22 with 8:50 left.

From there the two teams went through two ties and six lead changes until Lander closed out the half with four free throws from Lawrence to give the Bearcats a 37-33 halftime lead.

Lander connected on 28-of-51 field goals for 54.9 percent, including 8-of-14 three pointers for 57.1 percent. The Bearcats were 10-of-12 from the free throw line for 83.3 percent.

CSU made 21-of-61 floor shots for 34.4 percent, including 5-of-21 threes for 23.8 percent. The Cougars were 13-of-19 from the free throw line for 68.4 percent.

Boxscore

PBC Tournament Quotes – Game 3 – Lander vs. Columbus State

Columbus State head coach Doug Branson

“”I feel like first off we showed up ready to play and that we played as hard as we could. We just needed to score with more consistency.”

“(Sean) Miller’s (PBC All-Conference third team member) performance today made it hard for us. When your all-conference player is not playing well it makes it hard to score.”

“Lander did what they needed to do and they deserve credit. We have been fighting uphill all season and I am just elated with the way that my guys have responded all season.”

“It was just one of those nights…Their guys hit shots off the bench and I believe making shots is contagious, but so is missing them.”

Lander head coach Bruce Evans

“I think that we played hard all night and kept our composure. We have had a lot of injuries to deal with lately and it was great to see our kids battle back when they were called upon.”

On what he felt made the difference in the game
“To me it came down to our seniors. They did exactly what you expect seniors to do in games by leading the team.”

On Columbus State playing zone
“Anytime a team plays zone against us we feel pretty good. We feel like we have the players that can make some shots (in that situation).”

Lander senior Guard Ford Lawrence

On challenge of playing top-seeded Augusta State in next round
“We are excited about the opportunity. We feel like if we play our A-game we can give ourselves a good chance to win.