he 18th-ranked UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team shot better than 53 percent from the field and led for nearly 36 minutes as the Braves handed head coach Ben Miller his 100th career coaching victory with a 91-75 win over Montevallo on Saturday evening in Trustmark Arena.
The triumph marked the first for the Braves (14-1, 5-1 PBC) in the 8-game-old series with Montevallo and helped the Black & Gold extend its win streak out to seven games. The setback snapped a five-game win streak for the Falcons (9-7, 5-1) who had won seven of their last eight contests heading into the weekend.
Quamain Rose scored a game-high 24 points and came within earshot of registering a triple-double with nine rebounds and eight assists, while Brandon Winford chipped in 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Griffin Pittman tallied a season-best 17 points, while Brandon Watts and Ben Jacobs each added 10.
Troran Brown turned in 20 points and seven assists to pace the Falcons, who also got 13 points apiece from Larry Slaughter and Bryant Orange. Montevallo, who came into the contest boasting a league-best +8.5 rebounding margin, was out-rebounded in Saturday’s contest, 39-34.
"Our guys played very hard defensively tonight and the rebounding was key," said Miller, who became just the fifth coach in program history to reach the 100-win mark. "I thought we came out ready to play against them. The (100th) win is attributed to all of the players who have come through our program since I have been here. I am thankful to all of our players who work really hard at practice and give us a chance to win these games."
The Falcons steadily chipped away at a 6-point halftime deficit and tied the game back up at 46 apiece on Slaughter’s layup at the 16:30 mark, but the Black & Gold answered with a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to all but put the game away. UNCP led by as much 15 points, 70-55, after a tip-in by Jacobs with 7:53 left, but the hosts used a late-game surge to trim their deficit all the way down to five points, 78-73, on a pair of free throws by Brown four minutes later.
The Braves, who finished the game with a 19-for-23 success rate from the charity stripe, connected on seven of their final eight free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the deal. Montevallo went 0-for-9 from the field in the game’s final three minutes, including a pair of missed dunk attempts.
UNCP led for the final 16:48 of the opening half and padded its advantage out to nine points, 38-29, on a layup by Jacobs with 4:30 left before the intermission. The Braves would eventually lug a 30-24 lead into the locker rooms.
The Braves will continue a three-game road trip on Wednesday when they make the short trip to Florence, S.C., to take on Francis Marion (7-7, 0-6) in the second half of a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader in Smith University Center.
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