AMERICUS, Ga. – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team led by as much as 21 points midway through the second half and withstood a furious run by Georgia Southwestern down the stretch to hand the Hurricanes a 78-62 setback on Monday afternoon in the Storm Dome.

The result marked the largest margin of victory in the series for the Braves (8-2, 2-0 PBC) who are 2-0 in Peach Belt Conference play for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign. It was the third loss in the last four series meetings for Georgia Southwestern (3-6, 1-1) who had its two-game win streak stopped as well.

Alex Bradley and Brandon Watts each scored 15 points to pace the Braves, while James Murray-Boyles came off the bench to add 14 points and a pair of blocks. Freshman Akia Pruitt chipped in 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting as well.

Brandon Price scored a game-best 30 points on 9-of-20 shooting for Georgia Southwestern. Tevin Wise came off the bench to add a dozen for the visitors.

The Braves led by as much as 21 points, 62-41, after a dunk by Murray-Boyles with 11:02 to play, but the Hurricanes answered with a 19-2 run over the next 5-1/2 minutes to whittle their deficit all the way down to single digits. Georgia Southwestern would run out of gas after that, however, and missed 10 of their last 11 shots from the floor.

The squads traded leads nine times in the opening 13 minutes, but the Braves outscored the hosts 25-11 over the final 7-1/2 minutes to take a 41-28 advantage into the locker rooms. An 11-3 run over the final 3-1/2 minutes dug the deepest hole in the margin.

The Braves will take a 10-day break from competition before resuming their 2016-17 schedule on December 31 with a rematch against Barton (6-3) at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.