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Bearcats’ late rally falls short against USC Aiken, 68-66

Da'Shon Barrino

AIKEN - The USC Aiken men's basketball team held off a late Lander rally Saturday night en route to a 68-66 Peach Belt Conference victory over the Bearcats at the Convocation Center.

USC Aiken improves to 11-8 overall and 6-4 in the PBC, while Lander slips to 6-10, 2-7.

Lander rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final 11 minutes as the Bearcats went on 17-5 run and tied the Pacers at 61-61 on Da'Shon Barrino's three pointer with 3:42 left after trailing 56-44 at the 10:58 mark.

After being tied again at 63-63, USCA pulled away on a basket by Mark Brown and three free throws from Re'Mon Nelson to take a 68-63 lead with 26 seconds left.

Brenton Harris' dunk with 14 seconds left cut the lead to 68-65, then after two missed free throws by USCA's Kevin Willis, Barrino sank the first of two free throws with five seconds left in the game.

Willis led USCA with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Seth Leonard added 11 points and Nelson 10. Leonard, Brown and Willis each had five rebounds.

Dane Sparrow scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Bearcats as he connected on 7-of-12 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws. Harris grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, while Curtis Milner had seven.

The Pacers, who led 37-33 at halftime, connected on 27-of-61 field goals for 44.3 percent, including 7-of-20 threes for 35 percent. The Pacers also made 7-of-11 free throws for 63.6 percent.

Lander was 24-of-46 from the field for 52.2 percent, including 4-of-7 from the three-point line for 57.1 percent. The Bearcats made 14-of-25 foul shots for 56 percent.

The Bearcats out-rebounded USCA, 33-30.

Lander took early control of the game as the Bearcats jumped out to a 7-0 at the 17:27 mark of the first half on a layup by Greg Smalls.

The Pacers rallied to cut the margin to 11-10 with 12:30 left in the half on Byron Faison's layup.

Lander extended its lead to 24-19 at 7:19 on Harris' jumper only to have USCA go on a 10-0 run and take a 29-24 lead at 6:02 on Casey McMasters three.