PEMBROKE – The 23^rd-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team shot better than 55 percent from the field and scored 29 points off of 18 turnovers to cruise to a 93-69 victory over visiting Flagler on Wednesday evening at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
 
It was the seventh-straight win for the Braves (17-4, 11-2 PBC) who have now captured 11 of their last 12 outings dating back to a mid-December home win over Clayton State. The loss snapped a three-game win streak for Flagler (11-10, 7-6) who fell to 0-11 all-time in Pembroke with the result as well.
 

THE BASICS

SCORE: UNC Pembroke 93, Lander 69 RECORDS: UNC Pembroke (17-4, 11-2 PBC); Lander (11-10, 7-6 PBC) LOCATION: Pembroke, N.C. (Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST HALF

The squads played even for much of the first 7-1/2 minutes of the contest, but the Braves used a 9-0 scoring spurt midway through the period to finally give the game some separation. Damir Hadzic's 3-pointer with 5:30 left before the break made it a one-possession game, but the Black & Gold responded with a 16-3 run over the next 4-1/2 minutes of action and eventually took a 44-34 lead into the locker rooms.

2ND HALF

The hosts maintained the hot hand in the second half and pushed their lead out to 20 points, 61-41, on Jordan Ratliffe's layup at the 13:18 mark. The Saints made it a more-manageable 13-point deficit, 69-56, following a bucket from Tyler Collier with 8-1/2 minutes to play, but UNCP shot 75 percent (9-for-12) from the field the rest of the way out to preserve the rout.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Senior Akia Pruitt (7-for-9) and junior David Strother (8-for-10) both turned in a team-best 19 points in Wednesday's win. The duo combined to shoot 78.9 percent over the course of the game as well. Pruitt just barely missed a double-double with nine rebounds as well. + Sophomore Jordan Ratliffe scored 12 of his 13 points in the second half. Ratliffe was 5-for-9 from the field in the latter stanza. + Junior Spencer Levi came off of the bench and converted all six of his field goal attempts on the way to a 12-point showing. Four of his 12 points came via the thundering-dunk variety.

NOTABLES

+ UNCP has averaged 87.8 points per game inside Peach Belt Conference play this season, and is outscoring league foes by an average of 17.1 points an outing as well. + The Braves have now tallied at least one win streak of seven or more games in each of the last four seasons. Wednesday's result also pushed the home win streak for UNCP out to six games as well. + UNCP was 37-for-67 (.552) from the floor on Wednesday. It is the 12th time this season that the Braves have converted on at least half of their field goal attempts.

UP NEXT

The Braves will open up a three-game road trip on Saturday when they head to Dahlonega, Ga., to take on North Georgia (11-10, 6-7 PBC) in the back half of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader inside the UNG Convocation Center. The Nighthawks were a 90-77 winner over Georgia Southwestern at home on Wednesday.

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JOIN THE BRAVES CLUB

Fans can help support the UNC Pembroke Men's Basketball program by joining the Braves Club. To find out more information about the Braves Club, visit UNCPBraves.com/BravesClub or email braves.club@uncp.edu.