PEMBROKE – Senior Nigel Grant cashed in on his fourth career double-double and the 21^st-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team held off a late rally by Lenoir-Rhyne to key a 62-57 victory over the Bears on Friday afternoon at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
 
The Braves (1-0) improved to 8-2 in season openers under head coach Ben Miller with the victory, while also pushing their home win streak out to five games. Lenoir-Rhyne (0-1) has now dropped eight of the last 12 matchups in the series with the Black & Gold, and have not won in Pembroke since the 1988-89 campaign.
 
Grant scored nine of his team-best 14 points in the first half and pulled down 10 boards key a dominant 44-30 edge for the Braves in the rebounding column. James Murray-Boyles chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds in his first start since late January, while Brandon Watts contributed 11 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Cory Thomas put up a game-best 17 points for Lenoir-Rhyne who scored 38 of their 57 points in the paint. Djibril Diallo added 16 for the visitors.
 
A tie game at the break, UNCP scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second half to grab all of the momentum. The Bears made it a two-possession game on Diallo's jumper at the 14:04 mark, but the Black & Gold scored the game's next six points and kept the Bears at arm's length for much of the rest of the contest.
 
The Black & Gold led by as many as 12 points after Watts hit the back end of a two-shot foul with 90 seconds left, but Lenoir-Rhyne closed out the matchup with an 11-4 run to provide the final.
 
Neither team was able to find an edge in the first half, although the Braves did forge a 19-14 lead on a layup from Lumberton native David Strother at the 8:13 mark. Lenoir-Rhyne answered with seven-straight points to grab its first lead of the afternoon three minutes later, but the teams eventually walked into the intermission locked in a 25-all deadlock.
 
The Braves will close out play in the 2017-18 PBC/SAC Challenge on Saturday against Catawba (0-1) at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.