Related: No. 6 Tar Heels Too Much For Men's Basketball In Exhibition
HOUSTON, Texas – Houston shot 50 percent from the floor and took advantage of a long first-half scoring drought by the UNC Pembroke men's basketball team to hand the Braves a 94-67 setback in a preseason exhibition contest on Saturday evening in Hofheinz Pavilion.
The contest marked the final exhibition of the season for the Black & Gold who will officially open its 2016-17 campaign at the PBC/SAC Challenge on Friday and Saturday in Hickory. The Cougars will open up its season on home against Morgan State on Friday evening.
The Braves got solid performances from a pair of newcomers in the outing.
Andrew Evans complemented a game-best six steals and three rebounds with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while freshman
Akia Pruitt added 14 points and four rebounds. The Black & Gold got 41 points from its bench in the setback.
Damyean Dotson turned in a game-best 23 points and eight boards for Houston who finished the outing with 22 turnovers, including 12 in the first half alone. Rob Gray added 22 points, and Devin Davis chipped in 16 points and a game-best nine rebounds. The Cougars out-rebounded their visitors 53-25 on the night, but got just 14 second chance points with the effort.
Houston came out of the halftime gates firing on all cylinders, canning five of its first eight shot attempts to pad their lead out to 59-31 just three minutes into the latter stanza. A short jumper by Robinson with 11:28 to play would make it a 68-37 game.
The Cougars built a double-digit lead through the first seven minutes of the contest, but the Braves came storming back and used a 9-0 run to pull to within one point, 17-16, on Pruitt's steal-and-score with 11:25 left before the break. The Black & Gold would go scoreless for the next 7:52, however, and the drought would inevitably help the Cougars push their lead back to double digits heading into the locker rooms.
The Braves will lift the lid on their 2016-17 regular season campaign on Friday when they take on Lenoir-Rhyne in game two of the PBC/SAC Challenge at L-R's Shuford Memorial Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
