PEMBROKE – The 22^nd-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team canned 33 of its 44 attempts from the free throw line and used a dominant performance on the boards to fuel a 90-72 victory over in-state rival Mount Olive on Monday evening at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
 
The triumph marked the ninth-straight home win over a non-conference opponent for the Braves (4-1) who remained unbeaten this season in their home arena as well. The setback snapped a three-game win streak for the Trojans (3-2) who have captured just five of their last 20 road games dating back to the 2015-16 campaign.
 
Akia Pruitt scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds to cruise to his 10^th career double-double showing, while senior Brandon Watts tallied his seventh career double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. Nigel Grant keyed a 17-point outing with a 9-for-13 success rate from the charity stripe for the Black & Gold who recorded a 53-28 disparity in the rebounding column – the 80^th time in the last 101 outings that the Braves have out-rebounded their competition.
 
Mount Olive got a game-best 17 points from Jamaal Matin, while Cameron Robinson came off the bench to add 16 for the visitors. UNCP now leads the 32-year old series by a single victory, 18-17.
 
The Trojans kept the game manageable through the first eight minutes of the final period, but two free throws by Pruitt sparked a 10-0 scoring spurt for the hosts that eventually game them a 69-47 advantage with 8:34 to play. The visitors used a long scoring drought by the Black & Gold to cut their deficit back to a dozen points with just more than 12 minutes to play, but the Braves connected on seven of their next 13 attempts from the field to pad its lead back to 20 points, 82-62, nine minutes later.
 
UNCP scored the game's first nine points to put the Trojans on their heels early, but Mount Olive responded with a 14-4 run and eventually took a 16-15 lead on Don Pigford's free throw at the 11:48 mark. The contest swayed back and forth for much of the next 2-1/2 minutes before the Braves scored six-straight points to pull away for good.
 
The Braves will open up Peach Belt Conference play on Saturday when they trek to northwest Georgia to battle Young Harris (1-3) in the second half of a 1:30 p.m. men's and women's basketball doubleheader at YHC Basketball Arena.