GREENWOOD, S.C. – The University of North Georgia (UNG) men's basketball team dropped a 70-67 road loss at Lander Wednesday night.

The loss marks UNG's fifth in a row as the team fell to 13-11 on the year and 5-7 in Peach Belt Conference play.

Wednesday marked the eight game in the last nine meetings that was decided by single digits between the Bearcats and Nighthawks. In that same span, Lander's 82-80 win in Dahlonega last year is the only road win for either side. 

The Nighthawks were led in scoring Wednesday by junior guard Cayden Charles who had 17 points and five rebounds in UNG's comeback effort that ultimately fell short. Charles went 3-for-5 from deep in the game, marking his second consecutive outing with three made triples. 

The game started about as poorly as possible for the Nighthawks. Lander jumped out to an 18-0 lead as UNG failed to score its first points of the game until the 12:41 mark in the first half.

The Bearcats held a double-digit lead practically the entire half and led 28-17 at halftime. 

However, the Nighthawks would not go away quietly. In the second half UNG got big performances off the bench from freshman guard Ja'mari Arnold and senior guard Hunter Shedenhelm.

Arnold scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half while also dishing out all four of his assists and plucking two steals in the period.

Shedenhelm had 10 points on the night, all of which came in the second half. He hit two big triples to help the Nighthawk comeback, the second of which was from nearly 40 feet with under a minute to play to cut the Bearcat lead to just two points. 

Despite trailing by 22 points with 9:05 to play in the game, UNG valiantly fought back into the game against its rival. Trailing 58-36 the Nighthawks went on a 12-0 run to get the deficit to 10 points. 

Lander eventually got the lead back to 13 points with 5:43 to go but UNG went on another run, this time a 14-3 rally that was capped off by Shedenhelm's deep triple. The Nighthawks trailed 64-62 with 49 seconds to play but Lander's Jeremiah Holloway got open on a backdoor cut and converted on a layup while getting fouled. Holloway would make the free throw to push the lead back to two possessions at 67-62. 

The Bearcats went 3-for-4 at the free throw line in crunch time to hold off the Nighthawks and hang on for the three-point win despite being out-scored 50-42 in the second half. 

Now UNG will look to break its losing streak as it will celebrate Homecoming this weekend against USC Beaufort. The contest on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Lynn Cottrell Arena at the UNG Convocation Center takes place at 3:30 p.m.