CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Queens University of Charlotte men’s basketball team had a hard time finding an offensive rhythm against Lander University in the home non-conference game at Ovens Athletics Center Wednesday night. The Bearcats handed Queens their first home loss of the season by a score of 63-47.
The contest started off closely with the players looking more like track athletes than basketball players, running sprints from end to end. Lander opened a nine point lead up midway through, but the Royals reeled that back in and came within two off of an Antonio Stabler (Garner, N.C., Wakefield) bucket. A putback by Lander’s Brenton Harris and a three-pointer from Dane Sparrow extended the lead to seven, 34-27, at the end of the first stanza.
The second half proved to be more of a struggle for the Queens offense. After hitting 10-28 (35.7%) in the first half, Queens was just 5-26(19.2%) in the second. The Bearcats improved from 13-35 (37.1%) to 12-26 (46.2%).
The Royals stayed consistent in free throws, something they have done all season. In the first half they hit 50% of their freebies and improved to 75% in the second.
Turnovers hurt each team with Queens scoring 14 from 18 takeaways while Landers scored 22 from 20 Royals turnovers.
Lander outscored Queens 29-20 in the second half for the 63-47 win.
“I don’t like losing at all,” said head coach Wes long. “Lessons learned from the loss will make us better.”
Stabler led the Royals with 14 points and Daniel Bailey (Irmo, S.C., Hammond ) registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Harris scored 17 to lead all scorers. Tovi Bailey chipped in 12 and Sparrow totaled 10.