Chris Whitaker
AMERICUS — Georgia Southwestern entered Saturday’s game against Lander last in the Peach Belt in turnovers.
Turnovers got the best of the Hurricanes again against the Bearcats.
GSW turned it over on its two opening possessions of overtime while Lander made its first two shots to help the Bearcats escape with a 60-58 win at the Storm Dome.
“It’s a tough way to lose, but it’s the same stuff,” said coach Mike Leeder. “We were limited offensively, and combine that with a team that turns it over a lot, it’s difficult to score.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Evan Mobley and Sedale McGee-Jones put GSW (5-14, 1-8) up 50-48 with 1:41 remaining in regulation. A Dannie Hunt free throw put the Hurricanes up three, but the Bearcats tied the game with 1:08 left.
GSW had a chance to win with 1.1 left after Chris Rawls grabbed the offensive rebound, which led to a timeout. However, Rawls missed a three-footer that front rimmed as time expired.
“Dannie set a great screen for Chris, and he got the ball at the front of the rim; he makes a good bit of those,” said Leeder. “Unfortunately, it rimmed out on us, and we couldn’t get it done in overtime. We executed great at the end, but came up short on the shot.”
The Hurricanes were held scoreless more than five minutes at the end of regulation and the start of overtime. A Mobley layup with 1:31 left in overtime stopped the drought, pulling GSW to within 55-53.
The Bearcats were up 59-55 when Ric Roderick hit a 3-pointer with 11.3 seconds left to close the gap to three. After Tovi Bailey made 1 of 2 free throws with 2.3 seconds remaining, Mobley’s 55-foot heave banged off the backboard as time expired.
“I just thought we got a little discouraged and let the lead get away,” said Leeder. “We didn’t play well the first couple of possessions. When we hit poor stretches — one came at the beginning of overtime where we didn’t look sharp — we got down and couldn’t come back.
“You’re looking at two teams struggling right now with probably (coaches) who emphasize more defense than offense, and it was competitive, but not pretty.”
GSW trailed 22-20 at the half after finishing on a 9-2 run. It scored 11 of the first 15 points after intermission to build the biggest margin of the second half at 31-26.
Mobley had a game-high 16 points while Rawls had 13; Roderick had nine, all on 3-pointers. GSW played without Marcus Scott, who sat with a hip-pointer.
The Hurricanes had 24 turnovers which led to 23 points for the Bearcats, and they were outscored 36-20 in the paint.
Darius Johnson had 16 for Lander (8-11, 3-8), and Bailey had 12. Da’Shon Barrino chipped in 11, and Dane Sparrow had 10.
GSW is back at home Wednesday against Clayton State.
Women
No. 11 Lander 84, GSW 70
The Lady Hurricanes learned Saturday they still have some work to do to be in the upper echelon of the Peach Belt.
GSW (9-10, 4-5) fell behind by as many as 21 in the game as Lander (18-1, 11-0) remained unbeaten in conference play.
“Lander’s ranked 11th, and they’ll probably be a lot higher than that at the end of the season,” said coach Kelly Britsky. “They’re one of the best teams around. We didn’t play our best at times, and that’s frustrating. If we did, we could have made it a little more competitive game. Lander’s definitely on the next level above us, and they’ve got the program where it needs to be to hopefully compete for a national championship.”
Shannon McKever and Mukia Myrick each scored 16 for the Lady Bearcats, and McKever pulled down 14 rebounds.
Terra Branch led four players in double figures with 16 points off the bench. Whitley Wiltz and Jessica Bivins each had 15, and Brittany Reynolds had 10 with seven rebounds.
Lander used a 17-6 run late in the first half to pull ahead by 21 before GSW scored the final four points to enter halftime down 45-28.
“I think we got frustrated, made some poor decisions and poor passes,” said Britsky. “That was a huge difference in the ball game. That took us mentally out of the ball game the rest of the first half, and it was a gap we couldn’t close in the second half.”
GSW gets it next shot a top-tier team on Wednesday at home against Clayton State. The Lady Lakers are on top of the West division at 7-2.
