PEMBROKE, N.C. - The UNC Pembroke men's basketball team connected on 40-of-53 free throws and rallied in the final minutes to defeat Lander, 78-68, in the Bearcats' Peach Belt Conference opener Sunday evening at the English E. Johnson Center.
UNCP improves to 5-6 overall and 1-1 in the PBC, while Lander, which saw its four-game win steak come to an end, slips to 4-3, 0-1. Lander will host Hiwassee College and Lenoir-Rhyne Dec. 28-29 in their own New Year's Classic at Horne Arena.
Da'Shon Barrino led the Lander attack with 21 points on 9-of-16 field goals and 1-of-3 free throws. Dane Sparrow added 11 points, while Roy Hinson grabbed nine rebounds and Brenton Harris six.
UNCP's Brandon Thomas scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Marcus Heath netted 13 points, Chris Hargrove 12 and Nate Priest 11.
After being tied at 8-8, Lander scored five unanswered points to take a 13-8 lead at 15:56 in the first half on Antonio Pope's three-point play. The Braves cut the lead to 13-11 on a free throw by Mike Robinson and a basket from George Blakeney. Lander stretched its lead to 22-14 on Barrino's three pointer with 10:11 left in the half.
The Braves cut the lead to 26-24 with 7:08 left on Shahmel Brackett's layup, only to have Lander score seven unanswered points to take a 33-24 advantage, its largest of the half, on Harris' layup at 4:09.
UNCP countered with a 5-0 run to slice Lander's lead to 33-31 at the 3:07 mark on a pair of Priest free throws, but Lander retaliated with a Greg Smalls' three pointer to go up 36-31 with 1:56 left in the first half.
Lander used a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 52-38 -- its largest of the game -- on Sparrow's three pointer, a Smalls' layup and Barrino's free throw, three pointer and two-pointer with 12:28 left in the game.
The Braves countered with 10-0 run to cut the lead to 52-48 on three free throws by Shahmel Bracket at 9:26.
A three-point play of an offensive rebound by Darius Johnson broke Lander's dry spell as the Bearcats took a 55-48 lead with 9:09 left.
UNCP cut Lander's lead to 57-55 on Heath's three-pointer at 6:38 and Brandon Thomas' two free throws at 4:43. The Braves then took their first lead at 58-57 since 16:45 in the first half on Thomas' three-point play at 4:08. The Braves extended the lead to 61-57 on Heath's three pointer at 3:37. A technical free throw by Marcus and two free throws by Hargrove stretched UNCP's lead to 64-57 at 3:00.
Sparrow countered with two free throws to cut the Braves' lead to 64-59 at 2:46, then Barrino's fastbreak layup made it 64-61 at 2:31.
UNCP ended the game on a 14-7 run.
The Bearcats, who led 38-33 in the first half, made 26-of-69 field goals for 38.2 percent, including 6-of-18 from the three-point line. Lander was 10-of-19 from the free throw line for 52.6 percent.
UNCP connected 18-of-53 on floor shots for 34 percent, including 2-of-14 from the three-point line. The Braves were 40-of-53 from the foul line for 75.5 percent.
