COLUMBUS, Ga. — The UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team matched a Peach Belt Conference record with 14 blocks and scored six unanswered points in the final 80 seconds to slip past Columbus State, 73-69, and take over sole possession of first place in the Peach Belt Conference on Saturday afternoon at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center.
It was the sixth-straight victory for the Braves (11-3, 7-1 PBC) who have won five consecutive games in the state of Georgia dating back to a February win over Augusta last season. The setback snapped a four-game home win streak in the series for the Cougars (3-8, 3-5) who have now dropped five of their last six outings since a 70-67 win in Pembroke in mid-December.
James Murray-Boyles registered 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to pace the Braves who got 33 points from their bench in the win as well. Senior Brandon Watts turned in 14 points and 10 rebounds to tally his eighth career double-double, while Micah Kinsey chipped in 10 points, four assists and a pair of steals. Akia Pruitt tacked up eight blocks – the most for the program in the last two decades – while also recording six points and eight boards.
With his offensive performance on Saturday, Watts has now scored exactly 1,500 points in his storied collegiate career in Pembroke. He is one of just 11 players in program history to reach that scoring mark.
All-conference standout Ja’Cori Payne put up a game-best 21 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 clip from the charity stripe, to lead the Cougars who finished the day with a 38-22 advantage on points in the paint. Payne also matched a team-best with eight rebounds as well.
UNCP led by as many as 14 points, 59-45, after Kinsey’s 3-pointer with 10:36 left to play, but the Cougars put together a 14-3 run over the next 4-1/2 minutes to make it a one-possession game, and then tied it at 64 apiece on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Jalen Thomas at the 4:15 mark. Payne gave the hosts the lead on a fast break layup with just more than two minutes left, but Murray-Boyles hit a game-tying jumper on the other end of the court and Kinsey forced a momentum-changing turnover on the ensuing inbounds play.
Lumberton native David Strother connected on a pair of free throws with 28 ticks left to give UNCP the lead, and Thomas missed a potential game-tying basket on a jumper with 15 seconds remaining to seal the outcome.
Despite a back-and-forth affair for the 6-1/2 minutes of the contest, a pair of free throws by Murray-Boyles at the 13:29 mark of the first period sparked the Braves on a 17-4 run that eventually gave them a 23-11 advantage five minutes later. Columbus State climbed to within five points on an old-fashioned 3-point play from Rudy Winters with 4:12 left before the break, but the Black & Gold eventually carried a 38-30 lead into the locker rooms.
UNCP will continue a three-game road trip on Monday when it heads to Americus, Ga., to lock horns with Georgia Southwestern (9-3, 5-3) in the second half of a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader inside the Storm Dome.
Lady Braves fall short in upset bid
Attempting to hand Columbus State its second home loss in a season since 2013-14 and its fifth home setback overall since then, the UNC Pembroke women’s basketball squad was tied 44-44 with 5:47 to play in the fourth quarter Saturday at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center, but the hosts ended the game on a 20-7 run thanks to a 14-for-17 clip at the charity stripe in the final five minutes to turn away the Braves’ PBC upset bid.
Senior Nyla Allen turned in her best shooting performance of the season, tallying a game-best 16 points on a 5-for-6 success rate from the field before fouling out in a tie game with 4:17 remaining. The Lady Braves also got 10 points from both Avery Locklear and Brandi Robinson in the contest.
