PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team scored 31 second chance points off of 20 offensive rebounds and took advantage of a long field goal drought in the second half by North Georgia to register an 87-83 victory over the Nighthawks on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament.
The triumph marked the eighth-straight victory for the Braves (22-7) who will face Lander in the semifinal round of the league's postseason gala on Saturday in Greenwood, S.C. It was the third consecutive loss for North Georgia (15-14) who has now dropped six of the last seven in the series with the Black & Gold, including both contests this season.
Brandon Watts scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to notch his sixth career double-double and lead the Braves who finished the contest with a 50-31 rebounding advantage.
James Murray-Boyles came off the bench to register 20 points and eight board, while
Alex Bradley,
Nigel Grant and
Akia Pruitt all chipped in 10 points apiece.
Denzell Hosch tallied a game-high 24 points for North Georgia, with Tyler Dominy adding 20 points on 9-for-12 field goal shooting. The Nighthawks logged a season-best 16 steals in the loss as well.
North Georgia went without a field goal (0-for-11) for more than 10 minutes in the second half, and UNCP put together a 23-5 run that eventually gave the Braves an 18-point advantage on Kinsey's layup with just less than nine minutes remaining. The Nighthawks made it a three-point game on a pair of free throws by Hosch at the 1:53 mark, but could get no closer.
The Nighthawks connected on nine-straight field goals and led by as many as 13 points in the opening stanza, but the Braves scored 11-straight points to climb back into the game, and cut their deficit back to a single point, 39-38, on a free throw by Murray-Boyles with 14 seconds left before the break.
UNCP's semifinal matchup with the Bearcats (12-17) is slated for a 1 p.m. tipoff on Saturday in Horne Arena. The Bearcats took down Clayton State in double overtime in their quarterfinal matchup. The Braves won both matchups with the Bearcats this season, including an 83-81 overtime decision in Horne Arena on February 6.
