PEMBROKE – Senior Nigel Grant scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in a dominant first-half effort for the 22^nd-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team as the Braves completed a season sweep of Lander with an 87-77 victory over the Bearcats on Tuesday evening at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
 
The Braves (16-4, 12-2 PBC), who have now captured 26 of their last 31 outings dating back to last season, moved to 9-1 in Pembroke this season with the victory. It was the sixth-straight series loss for Lander (7-13, 3-11) who are just 6-15 against the Black & Gold since Ben Miller took over the reins of the program prior to the 2008-09 campaign.
 
The hosts got double-digit scoring from six different players including Grant who also pulled down a dozen boards on the way to his seventh double-double of the season (10^th career). James Murray-Boyles came off the bench to add 16 points, while Lumberton native David Strother chipped in 13 points, five assists and a trio of rebounds.
 
Rahu Purdie scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting to pace the visitors who were 7-of-10 from the perimeter in the opening period, but trailed by 17 points heading into the locker room. Srdjan Ivic came off the bench for the Bearcats to register his fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
 
UNCP went out in front by 26 points, 66-40, after Strother's 3-pointer at the 16:37 mark in the second half and hit cruise control for much of the remainder of the game. The hosts canned just two of their next 20 shots to give the Bearcats a window of opportunity, but Lander was only able to whittle its deficit down to single digits on Ivic's layup with 14 ticks left.
 
The Black & Gold toyed with the Bearcats for much of the first seven minutes of the opening half before a layup by Murray-Boyles at the 11:39 mark sparked a 13-3 run for the hosts that put them out in front for good. The Braves led by 19 points, 52-33, after two free throws by Micah Kinsey with 2:38 left before intermission.
 
UNCP will open up a two-game road trip on Saturday when it heads to Milledgeville, Ga., to take on Georgia College (9-10, 5-8) in the back half of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader inside the Centennial Center.