DAHLONEGA — The University of North Georgia men's basketball team held off a late comeback attempt from defending conference champion Lander to down the Bearcats, 76-73, Monday evening at Memorial Hall. The Nighthawks improve to 6-5 on the season and continue their perfect start to Peach Belt Conference play at 2-0.
Tyler Dominy led all scorers with 18 points on the night, while Shaquan Cantrell and Ebo Smith added 15 points each. Dominy also lead the team in rebounds with six. Nine of the 10 Nighthawks that saw action on the night pulled down at least three boards.
A tightly contested first half ended with North Georgia taking a one-point lead into halftime. The Nighthawks came out with a strong start in the second period going on an early 6-0 run and holding a two possession lead up until the 10:00 mark when Lander closed the lead to a single bucket and tied the game at 61-61 with less than nine minutes remaining.
The Bearcats took a brief advantage and led by as many as four points with five minutes left in the game. The game with just over a minute remaining and Lander looking to take the lead but Shaquan Cantrell forced a steal that proved to be pivotal. After a 30-second timeout the Nighthawks took control as Ebo Smith drained a huge three-pointer and following a miss on the other end Dominy bled the clock down to just 12 ticks left and buried a jumper to give UNG a five-point advantage.
Lander caught a lucky break on the other end as JR Washington was fouled and a generous continuation call counted the basket with the and-one giving the Bearcats a chance to pull within two with three seconds left. Washington missed the free thrown but the Bearcats pulled down the rebound giving Washington a shot a a desperation three to try to tie the game at the buzzer but the shot fell short of the iron handing UNG the three-point win.
