SAVANNAH, Ga. – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team shot better than 53 percent in the second half and scored 24 points off of 20 offensive rebounds on the way to a 93-81 road win over Armstrong State on Wednesday evening at Alumni Arena.
 
It was the fifth-straight victory for UNCP (19-7, 12-5 PBC) who moved back into a tie with Augusta atop the Peach Belt Conference standings with two games remaining in the regular season. The setback eliminated the Pirates (10-16, 5-12) from contention for one of eight spots in the PBC Tournament which begins next weekend.
 
Akia Pruitt scored 20 points and recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 10 rebounds as well for the Braves who matched a season-high with 56 boards and were +20 or better in the rebounding column for the second time (Barton) this season. Brandon Watts turned in his fifth career double-double with 15 points and a career-best 13 boards.
 
Corey Tillery poured in a game-high 27 points for Armstrong State who also got 14 points from Denzel Collins and a dozen more from Denzel Council. The Pirates shot just 34.1 percent from the field in the second half.
 
The Black & Gold led by 18 points, 64-48, just less than six minutes into the latter stanza, but Armstrong State put together a 13-3 run a short time later and pulled to within seven points, 69-62, following a 3-pointer from Loren Hall at the 10:05 mark. An Alex Bradley 3-pointer with three minutes to play snapped the lid on 12-4 scoring spurt and gave the Braves an 85-68 lead, but the Pirates scored the game's next 10 points to make things interesting down the stretch.
 
Bradley connected on all six of his free throw attempts in the final 74 seconds, and Pruitt accentuated the key road win on a dunk with 25 ticks left.
 
Neither team was able to get an edge through the first 7-1/2 minutes of the contest, but a pair of free throws by Carson Mounce at the 12:08 mark sparked the Braves on a 13-0 run that eventually gave them a 30-17 lead three minutes later. The Pirates climbed back to within seven points on Council's layup with just more than two minutes left before the break, but UNCP would inevitably carry a 47-38 lead into the locker rooms.
 
The Braves will close out the road portion of their 2016-17 regular season schedule on Saturday when they head to St. Augustine, Fla., to take on Flagler (9-15, 3-14) in the back end of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at Flagler Gym.