PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team shot better than 55 percent from the field in a dominating first half effort, and then held off a fiery Barton squad in the second half on the way to a 117-102 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.

The triumph marked the eighth-straight home win for the Braves (9-2) who avenged a one-point loss earlier this month in Wilson. The setback snapped a five-game win streak for Barton (7-4) who last tasted defeat on November 22 at Erskine.

The scoring output was the most for the Black & Gold since a 131-49 victory over Johnson & Wales in the 2010-11 season opener. The combined point total (219) was the most in a regulation game involving UNCP since the Braves dropped a 114-107 home contest to Pfeiffer midway through the 1988-89 campaign.

Nigel Grant scored a career-best 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and tacked up his second double-double effort of the season with 11 rebounds as well. Brandon Watts added 18 points for the hosts, while Alex Bradley tallied 17 points and eight assists. Freshman Akia Pruitt collected his second double-double of the campaign as well with 14 points and 10 boards.

Michael Boykin poured in 25 points for Barton who topped the century mark on the scoreboard for the third time in the last five games thanks to 56.8 percent shooting in the second half. R.J. Claypool added 22 points, six rebounds and four assists for the visitors as well.

Barton canned nine of its first 11 shots in the latter period and eventually trimmed a 17-point halftime deficit down to just eight, 70-62, after a layup from Miguel Brown with 14:12 left to play. The Bulldogs scored nine-straight points to climb to within four points on two free throws by Brown nearly seven minutes later, but the Black & Gold used a decisive 9-2 run minutes later to pull away for good.

The Bulldogs scored the first five points of the contest to set an early tone, but the Braves connected on 16 of their next 26 shots (61.5 percent) and led by as much as 24 points, on a lay-in by all-American Quamain Rose with five minutes left before the break. Two free throws by Andrew Evans with 49 ticks left would eventually allow the hosts to take a 55-38 advantage into the locker rooms.

The Braves will be back home again on Monday when they suit up to take on Peach Belt Conference nemesis Augusta (7-3, 0-2 PBC) in the back half of a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.