AUGUSTA, Ga. — Lander University’s Jareal Smith scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed six rebounds Sunday afternoon to lead the Bearcats to an 84-78 victory over Tusculum College in day two action of the Peach Belt/South Atlantic Conference Challenge at GRU Augusta’s Christenberry Fieldhouse.
Tusculum placed five players in double figures led by freshman Zach Davis‘ 18-point performance off the bench, including 11 markers in the opening half. He would finish the contest shooting 6-of-8 from the field and 6-of-9 from the foul line, while hauling in six rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists.
TC sophomore Matt Shown posted 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with his six rebounds, while junior Darius Carter finished with 13 points and five assists, going 3-of-5 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Senior Addison Flynn added 11 points, while sophomore BJ Fisher accounted for 10 points and two assists.
Junior Neal Spinks led Tusculum’s rebounding efforts with a career-high 10 boards to go along with his eight points and two blocked shots.
Smith paced four Lander players in double figures, connecting on three 3-pointers and shooting 13-of-16 from the charity stripe. Dermaine Smith and Michael Panaggio tallied 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Mike Lee added a dozen markers off the bench.
Tusculum held an early 10-8 lead following a pair of Carter free throws, but the Bearcats scored 11 unanswered points to lead 19-10 with 11:06 left in the first half. The Pioneers responded with a seven straight over the next 1:22 as Carter accounted for five points during the run, including his three-point play at the 9:38 mark as TC trailed 19-17.
Lander pushed its advantage back out to nine (35-26) following a layup from Denzel Myers. TC rallied with nine straight down the first half stretch, including a Flynn three-pointer and a Davis bucket to tie the game at 35-35 with a minute left. Smith went down the court and answered with a three-point bucket to give the Bearcats a 38-35 lead at the intermission.
Lander forced 10 turnovers in the first half, converting those miscues into 13 points, but while the Pioneers were shooting 11-of-23 from the floor (47.8%), Lander fired 6-of-16 from the foul line (37.5%).
In the second half, the Bearcats used an 11-0 run to take its largest lead of the contest at 69-58 following three straight Lee baskets, including his dunk with 8:07 remaining in the game. Tusculum fired back with a 10-2 spurt, sparked by treys by Flynn and Fisher as TC trailed 71-68 with 5:19 left.
LU would take a 75-69 advantage following a Smith basket with four minutes on the clock, but TC would cut the deficit to two on a pair of occasions including 77-75 with 47 seconds remaining.
After shooting dismal at the line in the first half, Lander made up for it connect on nine of its last 10 free throw shots, including nine in a row to close out the game.
LU finished the game shooting 26-of-62 from the field for 41.9 percent, including 8-of-18 from beyond the arc (44.4%). Lander shot 60 percent at the line, including 18-of-24 in the second half (75%)
Tusculum fired 28-of-52 from the floor for 52.8 percent, but only made four 3-pointers on its 15 attempts (26.7%) following its 10-for-20 performance Saturday against GRU Augusta.
Lander edged Tusculum 40-38 on the boards, but owned a 17-7 advantage on the offensive glass, while converting those second chances into 11 points.
The Pioneers return to action this Friday afternoon when they take on Trevecca Nazarene University for a 1:30 p.m. contest to tip-off the Carson-Newman Classic in Jefferson City, Tenn.
