CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team climbed all the way back from an 18-point deficit to eventually grab an 8-point lead with five minutes left to play, but Northern Iowa closed out the game with a 16-2 run to key a 72-66 victory over the Braves in exhibition action on Sunday in the McLeod Center.
 
The setback snapped the lid on the preseason exhibition schedule for the Braves who will open up the regular season campaign on Friday afternoon against Lenoir-Rhyne at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court as part of the 2-day, 4-team PBC/SAC Challenge. Northern Iowa will open its 2017-18 regular season on Friday at UNC-Chapel Hill.
 
Brandon Watts scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and barely missed a double-double with eight rebounds to pace the Braves. Akia Pruitt notched a double-double with 11 points and a dozen boards for UNCP as well, while James Murray-Boyles came off the bench to register 16 points.
 
Spencer Haldeman came off the bench to tally a team-best 20 points for the Panthers who were held to just 31.1 percent shooting, including a paltry 23.1 percent success rate in the second half. Tywhon Pickford added 15 points and Juwan McCloud added 12 for the hosts as well.
 
The Panthers led by 13 points after a free throw from McCloud with 14 minutes left to play, but a 3-pointer from Pruitt ignited the Braves on a 28-7 run over the next seven minutes that eventually gave the visitors a 64-56 advantage with 4:55 remaining. The Panthers shot just seven percent (1-for-14) from the field over that span as well.
 
The tides would change with just less than four minutes to play, however, as Haldeman drained a pair of free throws on a technical foul by UNCP, and that signaled the start of 15-straight points by the hosts that would eventually translate into a 71-64 lead with 55 seconds left  to play.
 
Northern Iowa shot just 37 percent from the field in the first half of play, but still held an 18-point lead, 37-19, after a pair of free throws by Klint Carlson with 3:10 left before the break. The Braves scored the last four points of the half, however, to trim its deficit back to 37-23 heading into the locker rooms.
 
UNCP will be back in action again on November 10 when they take on in-state rival Lenoir-Rhyne in the second game of opening day action at the PBC/SAC Challenge at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m.