PEMBROKE — What appeared to be a blowout early, quickly turned into a close game Saturday, but The University of North Carolina at Pembroke men’s basketball team rallied in a big way from a one-point first half deficit to beat The Apprentice School 97-71.

The Braves started the second half on a quick 14-4 run to build an eight-point lead. They maintained that lead up to the 10-minute mark with the score of 60-52.

UNCP coach Ben Miller was pleased with the defensive intensity his team played with in the second half.

“Our defensive energy was better in the second half, and that’s where everything’s got to start,” Miller said. “We like to run, so we’ve got to go out and get stops to set up transition baskets.”

A breakaway lay-up by Shahmel Brackett built the lead to 11, the biggest of the second half at that point. Later in the half, Apprentice coach Bill Tose was forced to take a timeout after a Brandon Thomas layup made the score 76-57, putting his team in danger of being down too much to make a comeback.

It did not help as the Braves went on an 8-2 run following the stoppage.

The Braves (3-2) dropped into a zone defense for most of the second half, allowing them to force 11 turnovers by the Builders.

With about two minutes left in the half, the Miller began to clear the bench, giving some of their veterans like senior Maurice Thorpe a chance to get some minutes.

Brackett had a game-high 23 for the Braves along with five assists, and Thomas added 21 and went 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Eric Joe led the way for the Builders in the first half with 16 of his team’s 41 points, but only scored six the rest of the way.

It was the Braves' eighth win in 11 meetings with Apprentice (4-1).

The Braves jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the opening minutes of the first half, with Brackett scoring five of those 10, prompting Tose to call a timeout. Tose felt his team gave up too many easy baskets during the course of the game.

“The biggest difference in the game tonight was the fast break points,” Tose said. “They got so many layups because we weren’t back.”

Just when UNCP appeared to break away a bit, the Builders came back with a run of their own, highlighted by back-to-back steals by Joe to pull Apprentice to within four with eight minutes to play in the half before Miller was forced to call a timeout to break the visitor's momentum.

The run continued however, and a Tim Johnson follow tied the game at 26. A 3-pointer by Joe moments later gave the Builders their first lead of the game, only to be matched by a 3-pointer from Chris Hargrove for the Braves.

The teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half, with Apprentice taking a slim 41-40 lead into intermission.

UNCP returns to the court Monday at home against Wingate.