Miles whittled its Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference West Division title magic number to 1 on Saturday with a 68-63 win over Lane at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. With one more conference win or Tuskegee loss - which could both come next Saturday - the Golden Bears will capture a share of their seventh straight West Division title.

The score was much closer than was expected - from before the game and during the second half when Miles (16-3, 13-1) had opened a 21-point advantage - but the Dragons' hard-charging comeback attempt pushed the Golden Bears to the limit for the second straight contest.

The Golden Bears took the lead for good in the first half and started to get its first bit of separation from Lane (3-16, 3-11) when it converted four 3-pointers in five possessions - two by Elijah Horton with the others coming from Alvin Miles and Dorion Staples - that gave Miles a 21-13 lead. Back-to-back buckets by Rylen Walker (nine points, four rebounds) pushed the lead into double digits for the first time at the midway point and a jumper from Alvin Miles with less than a minute left gave the Golden Bears a 40-23 lead at the half as they shot nearly 54 percent from the field.

It looked like it would be more of the same in the second half. Alvin Miles drained another 3-pointer early to push the lead to 20 points and Chase Ballard's 3-ball at the 10:51 mark gave the Golden Bears a 59-38 lead, the 21-point spread being the largest of the contest. But from there, Lane became the team with the hot hand.

The Dragons would score on 10 of their next 11 possessions while the Golden Bears went ice cold from the field. Miles missed seven straight shots and went more than six minutes without scoring. Walker's 3-pointer stemmed the tide and kept the advantage at 62-53 with 4:27 remaining. But Lane kept driving to the basket and Miles struggled to keep its opponent off the scoreboard. Two free throws by Christopher Matthews had brought the Dragons to within 64-59 with 2:39 left and what looked like a cakewalk was turning close to a stunning collapse by the home team. Miles, though, would regain its composure just in time. A basket by Corey Trotter (eight points, six rebounds) with 1:23 to go put the lead back to seven points and Lane would not get any closer than five points the rest of the way.

Rico Sain (13 points), Elijah Greer Dawson (11) and Braylin Sanjurjo (10) each scored in double figures for the Dragons. Alvin Miles (14 points, six rebounds, five assists), Najashi Tolefree (13 points, six rebounds) and Horton (13 points) carried the offensive load for the Golden Bears, who host Oakwood on Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.