PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team scored 58 points in the paint to highlight a dominating inside effort and held Young Harris to just 38 percent shooting in the second half on the way to a 90-74 victory over the Peach Belt Conference-leading Mountain Lions on Saturday at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
 
It was the third-straight victory for the Braves (12-4, 5-2 PBC) who stayed atop the PBC East division standings with the victory, while also improving to 7-1 in Pembroke this season. The setback marked the first conference loss of the season for the Mountain Lions (11-4, 5-1) who had their six-game win streak stopped as well.
 
Nigel Grant scored a game-high 22 points on 11-of-16 shooting to lead the Black & Gold who out-rebounded the visitors by a 44-29 count, including 20 offensive boards. Andrew Evans came off the bench to chip in 13 points, while Alex Bradley added 11 points and four assists. Freshman Micah Kinsey tallied a career-high five steals in just 11 minutes on the court to aid the victory as well.
 
Two-time all-PBC standout C.J. Wilson scored a team-best 21 points for Young Harris, while Bjorn Walker and Ben Waterhouse turned in 13 apiece.
 
A 3-pointer by Mike Smith just more than five minutes into the second half signaled a key 11-3 run by the host who pushed their lead out to double digits, 64-54, on a 3-pointer by Andrew Evans with 11:56 to play. Young Harris whittled their deficit down to just six points on Wilson's 3-pointer two minutes later, but the Black & Gold answered with a 17-3 run over the next seven minutes to push its lead out to 20 and all but seal the outcome.
 
The first half featured six tie scores and 13 lead changes. Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor in the opening stanza, with the Braves toting a 44-41 advantage into the locker rooms.
 
UNCP will continue a three-game home stand on Monday when they take on PBC co-leader North Georgia (9-6, 5-1) in the back half of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.