GREENWOOD, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan's upset bid against nationally-ranked Lander fell short on Wednesday afternoon as the Warriors dropped their second straight, 70-66 to the Bearcats.

Lander is currently ranked No. 16 in the D2SIDA Media Poll and No. 25 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll.

The Warriors held Lander to just 28 percent shooting (18 of 64) but gave up 23 offensive rebounds while grabbing just 29 defensive boards. Those 23 offensive rebounds for the Bearcats led to 20 second chance points. SWU shot 46 percent  from the floor (27 of 58) and made 5 of 15 (33 percent) from beyond the arc. Lander made just 4 of 19 (21 percent) from long range.

The real difference came at the free throw line where Lander made 30 of 42 (71 percent) while the Warriors shot 70 percent but made just 10 trips to the stripe. The Warriors also turned the ball over 21 times which led to 21 Lander points while the Bearcats gave the ball away just 11 times, leading to seven SWU points.

Kenny Holmes notched his first double-double of the season with a team-high 15 points and 10 assists. Dwayne Bryant added a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. That is the third double-double of the season for Bryant who leads the team. Cameron Solomon also added 11 points for the Warriors.

After trailing by as much as 12 in the first half, the Warriors (3-8) cut the deficit down to three, 35-32, at halftime thanks to a 15-6 run. Jamaral Kearse scored his only five points of the game during that run, including the first bucket to start the run with 6:01 before intermission.

SWU carried their momentum into the second half, scoring the first seven points of the half to take a 39-35 lead. The lead reached its zenith at six for the first time at 43-37 with 14:35 to play as Mike Lieberman scored two of his six points.

After taking the lead on Dwayne Bryant's layup with 17:32 to go, the Warriors held the lead for nearly the next seven minutes until Tobiasz Hose made a pair of free throws to put the Bearcats back in front at 48-47 with 10:54 to go.

Lander stretched the lead out to seven at 58-51 with 7:32 to go but the Warriors kept fighting and quickly brought the margin back to within one possession at 60-57 with 3:39 left as Cameron Solomon connected on a jumper.

Inside the final two minutes the Bearcats connected on 10 of 12 from the free throw line as the Warriors couldn't score enough to catch up. The Warriors made four of seven from the floor inside the final two minutes but it wasn't enough. Solomon had a chance to give the Warriors the lead but missed a three with seven seconds left. After that the Bearcats made two more free throws to push the margin to four with just four seconds to play.

"I thought our defense played really well today despite giving up 23 offensive rebounds," said SWU head coach Charles Wimphrie. "Anytime you hold a team like Lander to 28 percent shooting you're doing something right. We need to correct some things that are still holding us back, like rebounding and turnovers, as we head into conference play."

The 66 points scored by the Warriors is the second lowest on the season behind only the 49 points scored against UNC Pembroke back on Nov. 22 in an 81-49 loss.

The Warriors jump back into conference play on Saturday, hosting Limestone at 7:30 p.m.