PEMBROKE – Led by 52.9 percent shooting from downtown, the UNCP Braves earned a season sweep over the Lander Bearcats with an emphatic 81-66 Peach Belt Conference victory at the English E. Jones Center on Wednesday evening.

"We were fortunate to get the win but I don't think anyone was satisfied with our overall effort," said UNCP head coach Ben Miller. "We went into cruise control at times and didn't play to our potential. Give Lander credit, they didn't quit and kept battling to the end. They're a much better team than their record would indicate."

The win gives the Braves (10-3, 3-2 PBC) their most wins in one season since the 2001-02 season when that squad finished with a 12-15 overall record, and is one more than the team finished with all of last season. They also improve to 16-25 all-time against the Bearcats (6-7, 0-6 PBC) and have now won three of the last four meetings between the two squads.

UNCP took its final lead of the game with 13:00 to go in the first half on a 3-pointer by senior Lamar Cross and never looked back in capturing the 15-point victory. UNCP's lead never fell below 10 points in the second half, giving Miller's crew an impressive win in front of a season-high 1,745 Braves fans.

Sophomore Shahmel Brackett led the way with 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor, including 1-of-3 from downtown and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. The reigning PBC Freshman of the Year also chipped in three steals on the defensive end to go along with five rebounds in 27 minutes of action.

Junior Marcus Heath and seniors Chris Hargrove and Lamar Cross all had games full of efficiency, with the trio combining to shoot 11-of-17 from the floor and 7-of-10 from downtown in finishing with a collective 36 points.

The Bearcats left town continuing to search for their first conference victory of the season after suffering through foul troubles throughout the games entirety. A 16-point performance by Darius Carrier on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 from the line led his squad while Calvin Liptrot and David Pruett recorded 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss.

The Braves will head out on the road this weekend for a pair of PBC road matchups against Columbus State on Saturday and Georgia Southwestern on Sunday.