Lander topped No. 11 Augusta 81-63 in Greenwood, South Carolina Wednesday to further tighten an already heated Peach Belt Conference race for first place. The Bearcats made 52.8% of their field goal attempts, including 14 of 26 from three, to pull away from the Jaguars midway through the second half. Lander improved to 17-6 overall and 9-4 in the conference, and Augusta fell to 19-4 and 10-3.
Lander was led by Jared Sherfield (18 points), Noah Dunn (15), Jacob Cooper (15) and Tommy Moore (11). Augusta was paced by Tyshaun Crawford (22 points and 9 rebounds), Ja’Queze Kirby (16 points and 7 rebounds) and Miguel Arnold (11 points).
Lander led by as many as 16 points in the first half. The Bearcats took a 41-28 lead with 17 seconds left in the first half after Jacob Cooper nailed a long three pointer from behind the top of the key. Cooper’s bomb was Lander’s ninth three pointer of the first half, but it was immediately answered by Miguel Arnold. Arnold dribbled behind a screen, rose up and buried Augusta’s first three pointer of the game with 2 seconds left in the first half to narrow the deficit to 41-31 at halftime.
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The Jaguars carried the positive momentum into the second half when Ja’Queze Kirby made 2 three pointers and then finished an alley oop dunk on an inbounds play to cut Lander’s lead to 45-41 with 16:37 remaining.
After that Augusta made it a one possession game on three separate occasions. But Lander’s Tommy Moore responded with a jumper all three times to create breathing room for the Bearcats.
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A tight race for first place
After Wednesday’s round of games, five of the ten Peach Belt Conference teams are now bunched at the top of the standings with only one game separating them. Augusta and North Georgia hold records of 10-3. Lander, Young Harris and USC Aiken all stand 9-4. Therefore the five remaining regular season games will have a postseason feel as the regular season conference championship is officially up for grabs. The champion will host the eight-team conference tournament March 2-5.
Augusta will host Young Harris Saturday at 3:30 P.M. in a special “Break the Attendance Record Game.” All fans will enter free of charge for the occasion.
Follow Chad Cook’s coverage of local sports on Facebook and Instagram at @AugustaPressSports, and on Twitter at @AugPressSports.
