PEMBROKE – Visiting Fayetteville State whittled a 20-point second half deficit down to just five with 1:46 to play, but the UNC Pembroke men's basketball team shook off a late cold spell with key free throws down the stretch to hold off the Broncos, 81-74, on Friday evening in the English E. Jones Center.

The triumph gave the Braves (3-0) their fifth-straight victory in the series, while also handing the Black & Gold a win in its home opener for the fifth-straight season as well. It was the second-straight loss for the Broncos (1-3) who fell to 19-26 all-time against UNCP.

Quamain Rose complemented a game-best 20 points with nine rebounds, six assists and five steals to pace a quintet of Braves with double-figure scoring nights. Griffin Pittman registered a season-high 15 points, while freshman Brandon Watts chipped in 13 points, four assists and a pair of blocks. Keysheen Hinton came off the bench to record a dozen points, while Tyler Kordenbrock turned in a career-best 10 points and a trio of blocks.

Joshua Dawson tallied a team-best 19 points for the Broncos who shot better than 43 percent from the field on the night. Juwan Addison added 12 points and Carl McCray came off the bench to add 10.

"Give Fayetteville State a ton of credit – they just kept fighting and they weren't going to give in," said UNCP men's basketball head coach Ben Miller. "This is a rivalry game and both teams want to win very badly. They chipped away at our lead and we made some mistakes against their press. It was a great college basketball game."

The Braves used a 12-2 just three minutes into the second half to eventually grab a 64-44 lead on a short jumper by Rose at the 10:10 mark and held tight to a 70-52 lead just three minutes later before the Broncos began to chip away at their deficit. The Broncos took advantage of 1-for-10 shooting from the Braves down the stretch to fuel a 19-6 run that brought the Blue & White within five points, 76-71, on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Dawson with 1:46 to play.

The tides would turn after that, however, as FSU canned just one of its final five shots from the field and turned the ball over twice. The Braves made good on four of their final six attempts from the charity stripe to seal the outcome.

Pittman nailed a 3-pointer to give UNCP a 23-15 lead just eight minutes into the first half, but Fayetteville State scored 10 of the game's next 12 points to knot the score back up on Anthony Shelton's 3-pointer at the 9:12 mark. The Broncos would take a short-lived lead, 31-30, on Dawson's lay-in two minutes later, before Watts sparked the Black & Gold on a 13-3 run that would inevitably give it a 45-36 edge at the break.

UNCP will continue a four-game home stand on Saturday when the Braves suit up to take on Southern Wesleyan (1-3) in the final game of the 2014 McDonald's Classic. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.