WILSON, N.C. --- Senior Austin Anderson went off for 27 points and Lepreece Lynch chipped in with 19 while the Lees-McRae men's basketball team outmuscled Barton, 95-89, in Conference Carolinas action Tuesday evening at Wilson Gymnasium in Wilson, N.C.
The Bobcats (11-8, 7-2 CC) scored at least 90 points for the eighth time this season while Anderson (Anderson, S.C.) registered double figures for the 11th time in the last 13 contests. The Bulldogs (12-5, 7-2) mounted a furious comeback behind Daniel Westbrook's 16 points in the second half.
With the LMC win and BC loss, there is currently a four-way tie atop the conference.
Coach Steve Hardin's squad came out guns blazing with a 15-point outburst in the first 4:15 of play.
Lynch (Winston-Salem, N.C.) was responsible for six of them while finishing the night with 19.
BC made it a three-point game with four points from Jake Veasley, 15-12.
The Bulldogs took the lead after consecutive triples from Tyler Thayer and RJ Claypool.
Anderson caught fire with back-to-back threes before junior Jonathan Honore (Baton Rouge, La.) splashed one himself, 28-25.
The Bobcats built a nine-point lead thanks to a pair of three pointers from Darius Malbon (Hickory, N.C.) and a layup from sophomore Keegan Crabtree (Hillsborough, N.C.).
Lynch sliced the defense for a bucket before a buzzer-beating three from Anderson put LMC up 49-37 at the break.
Both teams shot extremely well in the first half while LMC went 9-for-16 from behind the arc. BC shot 48% and LMC was good for 51.4.
Junior Chad Hicks (Winston-Salem, N.C.) scored a timely layup to keep the lead at eight, 63-55, with 11:38 remaining.
The Bulldogs' Danny Shand got on a roll with eight straight points before Westbrook used a 6-0 run of his own to give BC a 76-75 lead.
Lynch drained a three with 3:52 remaining, giving LMC a 79-78 lead.
The Bobcats remained poised and went 10-for-11 from the charity stripe over the last 2:21 to stave off the rally. Honore made four while Hicks knocked down a pair during the stretch.
Claypool and Westbrook made it interesting with consecutive threes to cut it three, 91-88, however Thayer missed his final two three-point attempts as time expired.
Anderson grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds while Hicks dropped a season-best 14 points.
The Bobcats hit a season-high 16 three pointers and had single-digit turnovers for the second time in three games.
LMC welcomes Pfeiffer Saturday, Jan. 23 at 5 p.m. in a CC game in Williams Gymnasium.
- LMC -
