AMERICUS, Ga. | Brian Harper scored 21 points help Young Harris College withstand Georgia Southwestern State University 100-97 in a Peach Belt Conference men's basketball contest Saturday (Jan. 12) afternoon at the Storm Dome.

The Mountain Lions won their third consecutive game as they leveled their overall ledger at 7-7 and improved to 5-3 in the Peach Belt. It was the fourth consecutive game that Young Harris had scored 100 or more points and the fifth time this season to set a new program record (NCAA era), surpassing the 2012-13 squad. Georgia Southwestern dropped its fifth straight game as they fell to 2-10 and 0-6. Young Harris returns to the YHC Basketball Arena Wednesday (Jan. 16) when they host its cross-mountain rival University of North Georgia. The game is part of the Battle of Blood Mountain series and also is the Mountain Lions' annual Purple Out game..

Georgia Southwestern used a 10-0 run in the latter stages of the first half to take a 48-38 lead on a Grant Howard layup with 4:55 remaining, but the Mountain Lions fought back to pull within a point (54-53) at the half as YHC ended the first 20 minutes on 15-6 run.

The Hurricanes again jumped out to a nine-point lead (74-65) after a Howard jumper with 13:15 to play; however the Mountain Lions tied the game for the 11th time at 82 on an Alphonso Willis layup with 6:58 remaining. The Mountain Lions took the lead for good 35 seconds later on a Harper three-pointer. Young Harris extended its lead to six points - the largest for the Mountain Lions - (96-90) on a Seth McCoy three-pointer with 54 seconds to play.

Georgia Southern made two threes in the final minutes, but Harper sank 3-of-4 free throws to quell the Hurricane rally. Young Harris sank 76.2 percent (16-of-21) from the free throw line.

Young Harris shot 51.4 percent (36-of-70) from the floor, including 12-of-30 (.400) from long distance. 

Harper scored his career-high 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point range) and recorded his fourth double double of the season as he dished out 10 assists. Willis added 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. J.J. Flores added 11 points, while McCoy finished with nine points and eight rebounds.  Paul Miller, Troy Cagle, Nicksen Blanc and Justin Jones each scored eight points. Blanc pulled down a team-high nine rebounds while Miller grabbed six.

Devin Watson led the Hurricanes with 21 points, while Howard (20), R.J. Sessions (17), Kwei Lartey (14), Andre Statam (13) and Jalen Morgan (10) also scored in double figures. Howard and Morgan each grabbed eight rebounds, while Howard had eight assists.