PEMBROKE – UNCP shot better than 53 percent from the field in each half and dominated the paint on both ends of the court en route to capturing their school-record 10th Peach Belt Conference victory of the season with an 89-64 win over Armstrong Atlantic on Saturday afternoon in the English E. Jones Center.

The triumph gave the Braves (16-10, 10-6 PBC) their fourth win in the last six meetings with Armstrong Atlantic (10-14, 6-10), and also clinched a berth for the Black & Gold in next month's PBC Tournament. It was the fourth-straight loss for the Pirates who were eliminated from postseason play with the setback as well.

Mike Robinson came off the bench to score 15 points and lead five players with double-digit scoring days for UNCP. Ben Jacobs, Miguel Starkey and Nathan Priest chipped in a dozen points, while Shahmel Brackett added 10 for the Braves as well. The Black & Gold registered 22 assists (34 field goals), including five from K.J. Cooper.

Chris Vanlandingham tallied a game-high 21 points for the Pirates, who also got 16 points from Aric Miller and 12 from Grant Domsic. Armstrong, who came into the game boasting the league's top scoring team (80.7 points/game), was held nearly 16 points below its season scoring average.

The Braves outscored their visitors 49-18 in the paint and dominated the boards with a 48-27 rebounding advantage. The +21 margin in the rebounding column is the most for UNCP since posting a 53-31 rebounding advantage in a season-opening win over St. Andrews.

"Our guys did a really good job rebounding the ball today and, offensively, we were very efficient," said UNCP head coach Ben Miller. "We have a size advantage against (Armstrong) and we had to take advantage of that. The big guys were posting very well, but you have to give the guards credit because they did a good job getting the ball inside to them."

UNCP had pushed its lead out to 47-29 before the Pirates snapped a scoring drought of nearly eight minutes on a short jump shot by Vanlandingham with 16:51 left to play. The Braves pushed their advantage out to 20 points, 60-40, on a free throw by Priest at the 12:20 point and led by as much as 27 points, 87-60, on Priest's layup with 44 ticks left.

A trio of 3-point shots in the opening 96 seconds of the game gave the visitors an early 9-1 edge, but UNCP used a 13-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 14-11 lead on a trey by Griffin Pittman at the 12:20 mark. The Braves would score the final 12 points of the half as well to take a 40-29 lead into the intermission.

The Braves will close out the home portion of their 2011-12 regular season schedule on Sunday when they entertain PBC East foe Flagler (9-15, 2-14) in the back half of a 1:30 p.m. basketball doubleheader in the English E. Jones Center. The game will be preceded by a special ceremony honoring UNCP's four-member senior class – Priest, Robinson, Starkey and Marcus Heath.

To watch the full game click HERE.