AMERICUS, Ga. -- The Georgia Southwestern State University men's basketball team outscored Lander University by 21 points in the second half to rally for an 89-86 Peach Belt Conference victory in the Storm Dome on Saturday evening. With the win, Georgia Southwestern improves its record to 5-0 at home this season, 6-3 overall.      

How It Happened: The Hurricanes shot a blistering 58.6 percent over the final 20 minutes to give first-year head coach Aaron Coombs his first Peach Belt win. The pace of the second half comeback was bogged down by 29 combined team fouls and 49 free throws.

GSW actually led by a bucket, 15-13, with 11:41 to go in the first half before Lander went on a 19-6 run over the next six minutes to open a double-digit lead. The Bearcats stretched the margin to 18 points in the closing two minutes of the half and took a 50-32 advantage into the break.

The Hurricanes defense forced four turnovers in two minutes and scored eight of the first nine points of the second half to quickly shave the deficit to 11 points.

A 12-2 run aided by four consecutive free throws off technical fouls helped GSW regain the lead, albeit momentarily, with nine minutes to play. Over the next seven minutes, the teams were tied five times and Lander grabbed a two-point advantage on six occasions, but GSW kept countering the Bearcats. Josh Press drained a huge 3-pointer with 58 seconds to play to put GSW on top, 85-84. Lander answered with a pair of free throws to regain the lead before Jamari Dean put the Hurricanes ahead for good with a layup with 33 seconds to go. Lander proceeded to turn the ball over and Soloman Thomas sealed the victory with a pair of free throws with three ticks on the clock.            

Lander finished with a higher field goal percentage (54.7) than GSW (49.1) and more rebounds (35-28), but the Hurricanes forced the Bearcats into six more miscues and parlayed that into a significant 31-16 advantage in points off turnovers.

Who Stood Out: Dean led all scorers with a career-high 27 points. His eight rebounds and three steals were tops on the team. Abdul Dial scored 17 points, Thomas added 16 behind 9 of 12 shooting at the charity stripe. Press knocked down 3 of 5 from long range and both free throw attempts over his 23 minutes to finish with 11 points.

Lander (8-3, 2-1 PBC) had its five-game winning streak snapped. Tyler Brevard led the Bearcats with 24 points. DaJuan Moorer posted a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.   

Up Next: The Hurricanes host North Georgia (5-7, 0-4 PBC) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for Southland Academy Night.