PEMBROKE – UNCP shot better than 56 percent in the first half and scored 25 points off of 21 Catawba turnovers en route to a 77-58 victory over the visiting Indians on Sunday afternoon at the English E. Jones Center.

The triumph marked the ninth-straight home victory for the Braves (8-4) who have now won seven of their last eight outings since beginning the season with a 1-3 clip. The setback was the sixth-straight loss for Catawba (3-7) who has not tasted victory since a mid-November win over Paine.

Senior George Blakeney scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and just missed his fifth double-double of the season with nine rebounds for the Black & Gold, who also got 17 points from Shahmel Brackett and 11 more from Quamain Rose. Julian Sampah scored a team-best 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting for Catawba who also got 10 points off the bench from Nick Houston.

UNCP posted 51 percent shooting for the game and out-rebounded (43-30) its opponent for the 10th time this season. The Braves entered the weekend ranked seventh nationally in rebounding margin (+11.3).

"Defensively, we were pretty good at times. We held them under 60 points and they are a very good offensive team," said UNCP head coach Ben Miller. "I thought we got careless with the ball. We had way too many turnovers and we didn't shoot the ball very well from the line. We are pleased with the win, but there are a lot of things that we can improve on."

UNCP pushed a 15-point halftime lead out to 20 points just less than four minutes into the second half and led by as much as 30 points, 71-41, after a pair of free throws by Brackett with 6:11 left to play. The hosts subbed in the remainder of their bench at the 2-minute mark and Catawba finally got to within 20 points, 77-58, on Sampah's tip-in with 48 seconds left.

A close game through the first 10 minutes of action, Brackett's 3-pointer at the 9:04 mark sparked the Braves on a 14-3 run over the next five minutes that allowed the hosts to open up a 37-23 advantage with 4:09 left before the intermission. Despite giving up a little ground, the Braves scored five of the half's final six points to take a 44-27 lead into the locker rooms.

The Braves will step back into Peach Belt Conference play on Thursday when they trek to Milledgeville, Ga., for an intra-divisional battle against Georgia College (5-4, 1-1 PBC). The back half of the women's and men's doubleheader in the Centennial Center is slated for an approximate 7:30 p.m. tip off.

To watch the full game click HERE.