Patriots fall 70-60 at Lander

GREENWOOD, SC – Dane Sparrow and Houston Wright scored 19 points apiece to lead Lander University to a 70-60 Peach Belt Conference win over Francis Marion University, Monday night (Feb. 16) in men's action at Horne Arena.

The second consecutive Peach Belt victory improved Lander’s record to 11-11 overall and 7-9 in the league. The Patriots, winners of five of their previous seven games, fall 15-8 and 8-8 in the PBC.

Senior forward Kevin Clark paced the Patriots with 16 points, while senior point guard Crayton Jones tallied a game-high 11 rebounds, five assists, and four points.

Wright hit seven of 11 shots from the floor and Sparrow seven of 12 to lead Lander.

Lander trailed 12-11 when Wright hit a 3-pointer and Brenton Harris converted a three-point play to put the hosts up 17-12 with 13:27 left in the first half. The Patriots scored the game’s next five points, tying it at 17 on Clark’s dunk off a pass from Jones at the 12:30 mark.

The Bearcats went on a 14-2 run to build a 31-19 lead at the 8:12 mark. Francis Marion made up most of that deficit, closing the first half with a 15-6 run to pull within 37-34 at the intermission. Clark, Anthony Wallen and Houston Power had 3-pointers during the run.

The Patriots opened the second half with a game-tying three-point play by Stanley Jones, knotting the score at 37. Francis Marion took its first lead since early in the game at 41-39 with 16:15 left in the contest.

There were six ties in the second half. A jumper by Crayton Jones gave Francis Marion a 47-45 lead with 11:25 on the clock, but Lander answered with a 10-0 run take the lead for good.

Power hit a three-pointer, added a free throw, and passed to Simel Boyd for a lay-up that closed Francis Marion to within 57-54 at the 3:33 mark. Scooter Lawrence then hit a three-pointer to push the Bearcat lead to 60-54 with 3:01 to go.

Francis Marion’s Boyd and Lander’s Wright traded baskets and the Bearcats still led by six going under the two-minute mark. After Clark missed a jumper for the Patriots, Lawrence bounced a pass inside to Harris for a lay-up to up Lander’s lead to 64-56 with 1:16 to go.

Lander made six straight free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the Lander win.

The Bearcats made 26 of 56 shots from the floor (46 percent), nine of 11 free throws (82 percent), and nine of 21 from 3-point range (43 percent). Francis Marion made 24 of 55 shots (44 percent), six of eight free throws (75 percent), and six of 23 from behind the arc (26 percent). Lander had a 34-31 edge on the boards. The Patriots committed 13 turnovers while the Bearcats had 11 turnovers.

FMU will host ninth-ranked Augusta State University on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WWFN-FM, 100.1 The Fan.


Michael G. Hawkins