GREENWOOD, S.C. – Senior Akia Pruitt hauled in the program's first Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year accolade, while interim head coach Tony Jones was lauded with coach of the year recognition, as the 15^th-ranked UNC Pembroke men's basketball team walked away as the big winner at the league's annual awards banquet on Friday evening in Greenwood, S.C.
 
Pruitt, a first team all-conference selection as well, was joined on the all-PBC squad by teammates Tyrell Kirk (first team) and Jordan Ratliffe (third team). The announcement matched a program-best (2017-18) for the most all-conference selections in a single season for the Black & Gold, while the two first team selections signaled a program-first occurrence.
 
Kirk averaged a team-best 13.8 points per game and shot an impressive 41.1 percent from 3-point territory on the way to picking up the first all-conference nod of his career. The Whiteville product has scored 10 or more points in 20 outings in 2019-20, including a quartet of 20+-point performances. He put up a career-best 33 points in a home win over Lander on January 15, and notched his third career double-double with 22 points and 10 assists in a home win over USC Aiken just more than a month later. Kirk currently boasts the league's fourth-best free throw percentage (88.1) as well.
 
Pruitt picked up his second-straight first team all-conference honor after posting 12.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 blocks an outing. The senior from Winston-Salem converted on 52.6 percent of his field goal attempts and turned in six double-double performances, including a 20-point, 20-rebound effort in the road win over Winston-Salem State. The three-time all-conference selection, who was also named the PBC Tournament's Most Valuable Player as a freshman, became the league's all-time leading rebounder in late January, and reached the 1,000-rebound plateau in Wednesday's PBC quarterfinal win over North Georgia.
 
Ratliffe, a Gibson product who played his freshman season at Virginia Military Institute (VMI), boasts a 12.8 points per game scoring average and ranks as the conference's fifth-best 3-point shooter (43.0 percent) this season. The newcomer, who also averages 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals an outing, has reached double-digit scoring in 20 games this season, including a 28-point outing in the win at Young Harris. He scored 24 points in his UNCP debut against Catawba in the season-opening PBC/South Atlantic Conference Challenge.
 
Jones, who joined the men's basketball staff as a student assistant coach prior to the 2014-15 campaign and was eventually elevated to a full-time assistant role in March 2017, was named interim head coach in late November. He led the Black & Gold to its first outright PBC regular season title, as well as its fourth-straight 20-win season. Following a home setback to Georgia College in mid-December, he has skippered the Braves on an incredulous run that has watched them win 17 of their last 19 contests. That span included a nine-game win streak which matched the longest winning skein in the 28-year NCAA Division II history of the program.
 
The top-seeded Braves (24-5) will continue their postseason run on Saturday when they take on fifth-seeded Columbus State (17-12) in the semifinal round of the PBC Tournament. Tipoff is slated for high noon inside Lander University's Horne Arena.