WINGATE — The University of North Carolina at Pembroke men’s basketball team suffered its first setback of the young season with a 71-68 loss at Wingate on Wednesday night.
In a game that had the feel of an NCAA Tournament contest, Braves coach Ben Miller said his team “probably needed this” loss after his team’s impressive start to the season.
“Everybody’s patting us on the back,” Miller said. “We’re a work in progress; we have a long ways to go. We have a lot of potential, but sometimes you need a few of these. That’s the first time that somebody’s really got after us defensively.
“Maybe we had a little false sense of how far along we were after the Northern Iowa game. I think the reality of it is: we’re a long ways away from where we could be. Unfortunately, in this game sometimes, it takes a setback to grow.”
In their first road test of the season, the Braves (2-1) struggled to get going against the Bulldogs (2-1) and their pressure defense in the halfcourt. UNCP also had several players in foul trouble for most of the night with five Braves picking up three or more fouls.
Neico Robinson came off the bench to drop 18 points for Wingate, which knocked down 25 of its 30 attempts from the charity stripe. Kerigan Farley went 10-for-12 from the free throw line and finished with 14 points.
“They played harder, they coached harder,” Miller said. “I thought they punched us in the mouth early.”
The Bulldogs led by as many as 11 points in the second half, taking a 63-52 lead after a layup by Emarius Logan. UNCP battled back with a 12-2 run, capped with a layup by Brandon Watts, to trim the lead to 65-64 with 1:32 remaining.
Nursing a one-point lead in the final minute, Farley made a layup with 35 seconds left and David Strother knocked down a pair of free throws to trim the lead back to one point.
Farley gave the Bulldogs a 70-68 advantage on his free throw with eight seconds left and called a timeout after gathering a loose ball to all but ice the outcome. Logan hit the back end of a two-shot foul moments later to provide the final tally.
UNCP had one final opportunity, but Strother’s 3-pointer from the volleyball line caromed off the right side of the rim as time expired.
“In the second half we were a little better at times. … we’re still trying to find our rhythm,” Miller said. “I didn’t like our defensive energy to start the game. I thought it was better in the second half, but in the guts of the game we couldn’t control dribble penetration and we couldn’t execute.”
Akia Pruitt scored a game-best 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Braves. Nigel Grant went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line on the way to a 14-point performance, with Watts adding 11 points. Micah Kinsey logged seven points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals for UNCP.
Wingate closed the first half with a 13-5 run to take a 34-27 advantage into the break. The Bulldogs knocked down six 3-pointers on the night.
UNCP will now get a six-day break from competition before opening up a two-game home stand on Tuesday against Barton.
