AUGUSTA, Ga. - Junior guard Myson Jones drained two free throws with 5.5 seconds left to lift the Anderson men's basketball team to a thrilling, 61-60, win over Lander in the season-opener for both teams at the HCCU PBC-SAC Challenge, hosted by GRU Augusta on Saturday at Christenberry Fieldhouse.

Anderson (1-0), which opened a three-game road swing with the win, claimed its second straight victory past the Bearcats in the overall series, while Lander slipped to 0-1.

Lander senior guard Michael Panaggio gave the Bearcats a 60-56 lead with a free throw with just 26 seconds on the clock, but Anderson senior guard Chandler Hash's fourth 3-pointer of the night from long range pulled the Trojans within one, at 60-59, with 20 ticks remaining.

Trojan head coach Jason Taylor immediately called for a 30-second timeout, and following the break, Lander's Alen Hardy misfired on the front end of a one-and-one with 12 seconds remaining. Anderson's CJ Gleaton pulled down the rebound, his fifth board of the night, and Jones drew a foul on Panaggio to set up the heroics. Jones, who garnered his fourth foul early in the second half, had re-entered the game just 39 seconds earlier. The native of Aiken, S.C. calmly sank both ends of the one-and-one for his only two points of the night.

Lander senior Jareal Smith got off a desperation shot at the buzzer, but was unable to connect.

Neither team led by more than six points, with the contest featuring eight ties and 15 lead changes, including 10 in the decisive second half. The Trojans out-rebounded Lander, 30-26, while the Bearcats outshot AU, 54.8 percent to 43-1 percent for the game.

The Bearcats raced out to a quick 7-2 lead in the opening three minutes, but Anderson countered with a 10-2 outburst to claim a 12-9 edge with less than 13 minutes left in the opening half. Hash ignited the surge with back-to-back 3-pointers, while Gleaton and redshirt junior Chris Ross each added close baskets.

But Lander regained the lead, 14-12, at the 11:15 mark and the Trojans were unable to overtake the Bearcats until Gleaton's two free throws with two minutes left in the first half gave AU a 25-24 edge. The Anderson, S.C. native added two more free throws with 63 seconds remaining to boost the Trojans' lead to 27-24 at the break.

Anderson claimed its largest lead of the game, 33-27, on Ross's jumper with 16:48 left in the contest, but Lander stayed close and Smith's trey gave LU a brief 39-38 lead three minutes later.

Eight of the game's 15 lead changes occurred in the final 10 minutes.

Hash finished with a game-high 18 points and shared game-high honors with six assists. Ross added a career-high 15 points on 7-of-9 s hooting from the field and also recorded five rebounds. Gleaton tallied 12 points and five rebounds, while senior Kyle Sledge pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

Panaggio finished with 16 points and Smith added 13 points and a team-best seven rebounds for the Bearcats.

Looking for its second win of the early season, Anderson will square off against host GRU Augusta at 4 p.m. on Sunday.