Related: Men's Basketball Checks Into Top 25

PEMBROKE – The 21st-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team scored 21 points off of 18 Coker turnovers and used 54 percent shooting in the second half to pull away from the Cobras en route to a 69-61 victory on Wednesday afternoon in the English E. Jones Center.

The result marked the fourth-straight win for the Braves (11-1) who now boast the best 12-game start to a season since the 1990-91 squad began its campaign with a 12-1 mark. The Cobras (3-6) have now dropped six of the last nine series matchups with the Black & Gold, including three-straight losses.

The win also helped the Braves finish off a perfect (9-0) nonconference slate – the first time that has happened since the 1999-00 season.

Ben Jacobs came off the bench to score a team-best 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting for the hosts, who also got 13 points from Brandon Watts and 11 more from Griffin Pittman. Quamain Rose finished with a game-best seven assists for the Black & Gold as well.

Errick Bethel keyed a game-best 28-point day with an 8-for-13 success rate from the perimeter to pace the visitors. Trey Marshall scored 10 points for the Cobras as well.

"They always make us work for it," said UNCP head coach Ben Miller. "We've had such great games with them over the years. They are one of the toughest teams to play against in the region. They make it really hard for you to run your offense. I thought our defense, at times, was really good today and we got better as the game went along."

The Cobras trailed by double digits following an old-fashioned 3-point play by Jacobs at the 12:24 mark in the second half, but got to within a single possession after a Trey James layup at the 7:56 mark trimmed the deficit back to 53-50. A 14-3 run by the Braves over the next five minutes would put the final nail in the coffin, however.

UNCP set the tone early and went up by as much as 10 points in the first half after a layup by Jacobs with 10:04 left to play, but Bethel came off the bench to hit 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions and pull the Cobras to within two points, 23-21, just more than three minutes later. Bethel's sixth 3-pointer of the game with 4:23 left before the intermission gave the visitors a 26-25 lead, but UNCP eventually carried a 31-28 advantage into the locker rooms.

The Braves will continue a six-game home stand on Saturday when they step back into Peach Belt Conference play to host GRU Augusta (9-2, 1-1 PBC) in the back end of a 3:30 p.m. basketball doubleheader inside the English E. Jones Center. All Robeson County Schools students, faculty and staff will be admitted for free.