PEMBROKE – The 24
th-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team will continue its run in the postseason on Saturday afternoon when the Braves head to Greenwood, S.C., to battle Lander in the semifinal round of the 2016-17 Peach Belt Conference Tournament. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. at Horne Arena.
Fans can follow the game for free via a live audio stream on the UNCP Braves YouTube channel with
Cameron Songer handling the play-by-play duties. The game can also be followed via live video and statistics links provided by Lander as well.
- The Braves (22-7) pushed their win streak out to eight games with a thrilling 87-83 win over North Georgia in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday in Pembroke. UNCP led by as many as 18 points with nine minutes to play in that contest, but the Nighthawks made it a three-point game on a pair of free throws with 1:53 left.
- The victory put the lid on a phenomenal home campaign for the Black & Gold this season. UNCP registered a 13-2 mark at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court in 2016-17 – the seventh-straight year that the Braves have registered a winning record in Pembroke. The Braves are 69-20 (.775) at home over the last six seasons, including a program-best 15-2 clip during the 2014-15 campaign.
- Ben Miller is now 149-114 (.567) as a collegiate head coach (all with the Braves). UNCP has now registered 22 or more wins in a season three times during Miller's tenure (2008-Present).
- UNCP led the league in home attendance average for the fourth time in the last five years as a league-best 1,161 fans per game made their way through the entrances at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. The program has averaged better than 1,150 fans per game over the last five years as well. That span includes a crowd of 2,342 that witnessed the Braves win a share of the PBC title on February 22 – the second-largest home attendance in program lore.
- The Braves are now 9-18 in the PBC Tournament (18 appearances), but are just 1-7 in the league's postseason event after the opening round. UNCP edged Georgia Southwestern in the second round of the 2010-11 PBC Tournament, but dropped second round games to Montevallo in both the 2012-13 and 2014-15 PBC Tournaments. UNCP is 1-2 on the road in PBC Tournament play, including a 68-66 triumph at USC Aiken in 2010-11.
- Lander (12-17) was the only road team to capture a win in Saturday's PBC quarterfinal round when it upended Clayton State, 89-86, in double overtime. The Lakers were the No. 1 seed from the PBC West, while Lander remains in the tournament as the No. 4 seed from the PBC East. It is the second consecutive trip to the PBC semifinals for the Bearcats who tallied one-point victories in both the 2015-16 PBC semifinals (Montevallo, 71-70) and championship game (Augusta, 87-86).
- The Bearcats boast the league's second-best 3-point field goal percentage (.379) despite averaging just 76.5 points an outing this season. Lander shot 43 percent or better from the field in both meetings with the Braves this season, and were a combined 20-for-47 (.426) from the perimeter in those contests. The Bearcats were 11-for-23 (.478) from downtown in their 83-81 overtime loss at home to the Braves on February 6, and shot 49.2 percent from the field in the 83-69 setback in Pembroke on January 18.
- J.R. Washington totes the league's fifth-best scoring average at 18.6 points per game, while Rahu Purdie chips in 13.3 points an outing. Washington, who averaged 15.5 points per game in the two regular season matchups with the Braves, also boasts a PBC-best 2.2 steals an outing. Purdie, who is a combined 7-for-14 from the perimeter against the Black & Gold this season, averaged a team-best 16.0 points per game in the two regular season matchups, including a game-high 21 points in the overtime contest.
- Lander leads the all-time series, 29-24, but the Braves are 12-6 against the Bearcats under the direction of head coach Ben Miller. The Braves have won three of the last four series matchups, including four of the last five contests in Greenwood (two-game win streak in series road games). The squads have met just one time in PBC Tournament play when the Braves registered a 67-65 overtime victory over the Bearcats in the opening round of the 1995-96 PBC Tournament in Milledgeville, Ga.
