GREENWOOD, S.C.- Greg Smalls and Kevin Kelley came up with huge plays in the final two minutes, including teaming up for the winning shot as the Lander Bearcats rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final six minutes to defeat Queens University of Charlotte 65-64 in a non-conference men's basketball game Monday night at Horne Arena.
Smalls and Kelley each hit 3-pointers in the final two minutes to ignite the rally. But Lander still trailed by one point, 64-63, when Kelley got a steal with 16 seconds to go. After a time-out, Kelley in-bounded the ball to Smalls, who hit a shot in the lane to give the Bearcats a 65-64 lead with 11 seconds left.
Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, N.C., Ashbrook) of Queens missed a jumper in the final seconds, teammate Kevin Fowler (Mexico, N.Y. , Mexico Academy) got the rebound, missed the put-back, and Lander's Curtis Milner grabbed the offensive rebound with one second to go. Although Milner missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Royals weren't able to get off a shot. The Bearcats closed the game with a 17-4 run.
Lander improved to 3-1 while Queens fell to 1-4.
Patrick Fox (Eden, N.C. , Morehead) led Queens with 16 points, Hopkins scored 15 points, Daniel Bailey (Irmo, S.C., Hammond )added 10 points, and Fowler had a game-high 14 rebounds.
Smalls led the Bearcats with 15 points and Houston Wright added 11 points
Bailey's dunk at the 6:09 mark gave the Royals their largest lead of the game at 60-48. But Lander would rally with seven unanswered points. Smalls converted a three-point play and Wright hit a pair of baskets on consecutive possessions, pulling Lander within 60-55 with 4:24 to go.
After Hopkins hit a pair of free throws to push the Queens lead to seven at the three-minute mark, the Bearcats closed to within 62-58 when Smalls swished a 3-pointer with 1:58 to go. Hopkins hit two more free throws to push the lead back to six at the 1:31 mark.
Kelley's third 3-pointer of the game pulled Lander within 64-61 with 1:19 to go and the Bearcats continued the pressure when Wright got a steal. Wright followed up his steal with a jumper that pulled the hosts within 64-63, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
The first half featured four ties and several lead changes. Queens broke a 10-all tie on a Fox 3-pointer and Hopkins jumper to take a 15-10 lead with 11:21 left before halftime. The Bearcats regained the lead at 21-20 on Milner's dunk with 5:45 left and 24-22 on a 3-pointer by Greg Smalls at the 3:50 mark. It would be Lander's last lead until the final seconds of the game.
The Royals closed the first half with an 11-0 run over the final three-plus minutes, starting with Fox's game-tying jumper at the 3:31 mark, followed by Dominque Ester 's (Creedmoor, N.C. , South Granville )3-pointer, baskets by Fox and Bailey, and a bucket by Hopkins at the buzzer for a 33-24 halftime lead.
Queens opened up a pair of 11-point leads early in the second half and still led by nine, 43-34, with 15 minutes left in the game. But Lander closed the gap, using a 9-2 run to pull within 45-43 with 12:20 to go. Milner scored four of the nine points, Wright hit a 3-pointer, and Ford Lawrence hit a jumper during the rally.
The Royals responded with a 9-2 run of their own, building their lead back to 54-45 at the 9:53 mark on Charles Burgess 's (Spartanburg, S.C., Boiling Springs)jumper. After Jacob Davis hit a 3-pointer to cut Lander's deficit to 54-48, Queens ended a three-minute scoring drought when Fowler hit a free throw and a basket to restore the lead back to nine, 57-48, with 6:27 to go. The visitors would soon expand the lead to 12 before being outscored 17-4 the rest of the way.
For the game, Lander made 27 of 69 shots from the floor (39 percent), four of seven free throws (57 percent), and seven of 20 from 3-point range (35 percent). Queens made 25 of 55 shots (46 percent), 11 of 14 free throws (77 percent), and three of eight from behind the arc (38 percent). The Royals had a 41-34 edge on the boards.
