Bobcat men persevere over Lander

Slideshow Included: Behind a balanced attack led by senior forwards Ryan Aquino and Mike Augustine, the Bobcat men on Saturday knocked off Lander University, one of the top-scoring teams in the Peach Belt Conference, 71-68.

Lander came into the game scoring nearly 80 points a game and boasted one of the Division II’s  best players, guard Corey Wright, who was averaging 21.2 points per game.

Kendyl Wade | gcsunade.com

After a slow start for both teams, the Bobcats turned it on in the last 10 minutes of the first half, shooting 53 percent (8-15). Junior Ryan Lively connected on two 3-pointers during the the run for GC as the Bobcats stretched the lead to seven, 35-28 to to end the half.

“Coach (Sellers) told us not to be complacent. Leads change so quickly in this league,” Aquino said. “At no point is a lead safe, so we’ve just got to act like the score is 0-0 all the time.”

Lander had other thoughts, though. The Bearcats made a quick run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to bring the game within one point (46-45) when Lively banked in a 3-pointer with time on the shot-clock dwindling to allow GC some breathing room.

Both teams continued to play tough down the stretch, and with 5:39 left in the game Lander tied it at 55.

But once again Lively knocked down another 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, to make it 58-55. After that, the Bobcats never relinquished the lead.

Coach Terry Sellers noted the ability to use his bench and the Bobcats’ mental toughness as a key on both sides of the ball after the game.

“I thought Blake was huge. He knocked down some really big shots today,” Sellers said. “We’ve dropped a couple close games here at home in the conference. … Guys just kind of grew up and have showed some really good toughness these last couple of games. We just made about one more play than they did.”

Balance from the bench keyed the victory for the Bobcats down the stretch. GC used its bench for 30 more minutes than Lander did.

Junior guard Terrance Chatman and sophomore guard Joey Bell provided some much-needed help defensively off the pine for GC.

“Terrance always plays good defense. I thought Joey Bell did a great job in the first half defensively,” Sellers said. “I like the balance of our team. That’s making us a better team because more guys are scoring for us.”

Bobcat senior Augustine’s 17 points in 34 minutes came in one of his best performances of the season.

“This is when we made our run last season, and now we’re making our run this season,” Augustine said. “I just gotta stay aggressive and not get complacent –– both Ryan (Aquino) and I really.”

GC hosts Georgia Southwestern at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Centennial Center.

Posted by Chad Patterson on Feb 2 2012. Filed under Lead stories, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.