PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team turned 21 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points and used a smothering second half defense to key a 69-56 victory over visiting Lander on Wednesday evening in the English E. Jones Center.

It was the third win in the last four outings for the Braves (20-4, 11-4 PBC) who became one of just 11 teams in school history to reach the 20-win plateau. Lander (16-7, 8-7) is now 3-7 since starting the season with 13-straight wins.

Quamain Rose tallied his eighth career double-double with a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Ben Jacobs came off the bench to notch his ninth career double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Brandon Watts poured in all 10 of his points in the first half, while Griffin Pittman added 11. Keysheen Hinton chipped in 10 points, while Brandon Winford just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds.

Kiair Couch tallied a team-best 13 points for the Bearcats who shot just 34.4 percent in the contest. Tobiasz hose added a dozen points for the visitors.

The Bearcats grabbed a 34-31 advantage just less than three minutes into the second period on a jumper by Crouch, but the Braves answered with a 13-0 run that eventually gave them a 47-34 lead on a dunk by Cody Hughes at the 12 minute mark. The hosts would go on to lead by as much as 14 points on a free throw by Pittman with 3:34 to play.

Lander held the hosts to just 30 percent shooting in the first half and took a 15-8 lead on another Crouch jumper with 13:57 left before the break. UNCP reeled off an 11-0 run minutes later that gave it a 27-22 advantage with 5:07 to play and eventually lugged a 29-28 cushion into the locker rooms.

UNCP will close out a short two-game stay at home on Saturday when it locks horns with Armstrong State (6-15, 4-11) in the back end of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader inside the English E. Jones Center.