MORROW, Ga. – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team shot just 39.4 percent from the field and fell victim to an early run by Clayton State as the Braves had their four-game win streak snapped with an 84-80 loss at Clayton State on Monday evening in the Athletics & Fitness Center.
The Braves (10-8, 4-5 PBC) fell to 5-6 away from home this season and have now dropped three-straight games in the series with their PBC West rivals. Clayton State (10-6, 5-4) has now won four of its last six outings and improved to 5-4 at home this season with the result.
Alex Bradley registered a game-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting to pace the Braves who were out-rebounded for the second-straight game, 40-34. Jihad Wright came off the bench to add 17 points, while Brandon Watts tallied 11.
PBC Player of the Week Alfonso Davis paced Clayton State with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Saiquan Terry chipped in 21 and Dantez Bennamon scored 19.
Clayton State led by as much as 13 points, 61-48, in the second half after a 3-pointer by Terry at the 11:54 mark, but the Braves slowly chipped away at their deficit and eventually made it a one-possession game, 68-65, after a running jumper by Wright with 4:03 to play. Bradley hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 11 seconds – the latter of which made it an 82-80 game with 1.3 seconds left – but Bennamon hit a pair of free throws on the other end of the court to provide the final.
The Lakers scored 15 of the game's first 19 points and maintained that lead throughout the first half thanks to 38.2 percent shooting by the Braves. UNCP trimmed its deficit back to just six points after a pair of Chris Smith free throws with 5:05 left before the break made it 31-25, but the hosts had padded their lead back out to 40-28 three minutes later following two free throw makes by Terry and would eventually take a 44-34 lead into the locker rooms.
The Braves will be back in action again on Saturday when they return home to battle Georgia Southwestern (7-8, 3-5) in the second half of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
