GREENWOOD – UNC Pembroke's Chris Hargrove posted a double-double, helping the Braves hand the Lander Bearcats their first loss of the season, 71-65, in the Peach Belt Conference opener Tuesday night at Horne Arena.
Hargrove led the Braves (4-1 overall, 1-0 PBC) with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Nate Priest scored 13 points, and Cody Hughes added 12 points.
Calvin Liptrot and Tovi Bailey paced Lander (3-1, 0-1) with 17 points apiece, but the team struggled down the stretch going more than six minutes without a field goal. Liptrot scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half.
Bailey came close to a triple-double for the Bearcats, falling just short with nine rebounds and nine assists. Darius Carrier also had nine rebounds for Lander.
Pembroke had a big advantage at the free-throw line, making 22 of 30 at the stripe. The Bearcats made only 11 of 22.
For the game, Lander made 25 of 68 shots from the floor (37 percent) and only four of 23 from behind the 3-point line (17 percent).
The Braves hit 23 of 63 shots from the floor (37 percent) and three of 16 from behind the arc (19 percent).
The teams were a combined seven of 39 from 3-point range.
Pembroke had a 48-43 rebounding edge.
Lander dominated the first four minutes of the game, building a 10-2 lead with Liptrot hitting two jumpers and adding a three-point play. Meanwhile, the Braves were missing seven of their first eight shots.
But Pembroke responded with eight unanswered points, tying the game at 10 on a 3-pointer by Hughes at the 15:10 mark. Ten seconds later, Liptrot broke the tie when he swished another jump shot.
The Braves took their first lead of the game, 13-12, when Hughes made his second 3-pointer. But Lander regained the lead when Liptrot made his fifth shot in six attempts, already putting himself in double figures.
The lead switched hands again when Mike Robinson converted a three-point play, giving Pembroke an 18-15 lead.
But Lander scored eight unanswered points for a 23-18 advantage when Bailey made two fast-break layups, Marcus Broughton scored in the paint, and David Pruett got a steal and hit a jumper.
The Braves twice pulled within one, 25-24 and 27-26, but Liptrot answered both times with baskets in the paint as he was 7-for-9 from the floor. Pembroke's Hargrove made two free throws to tie it at 29 with 2:47 left in the half.
The Braves took a 33-32 lead when Priest hit two free throws at the 1:20 mark. Pembroke's Robinson hit the first of two free throws with five seconds left. But when he missed the second, Bailey grabbed the rebound, raced down the court, and swished a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Lander a 35-34 halftime lead.
Darion Canty hit a long jumper, had a steal and fast-break layup, and made another layup off an inside pass from Bailey to help the Bearcats stay out front early in the second half, with the last of his points making it 41-38 with 16:26 to go.
But Pembroke, which missed 12 of its first 14 shots in the second half, mostly from close range, tied it at 41 when Priest converted a three-point play at the 14:50 mark and took the lead on a Hughes jumper a few seconds later. Shahmel Brackett's bucket completed a 7-0 run, giving the Braves a 45-41 advantage.
Broughton's free throw ended the run and Pruett's 3-pointer from the right side tied the game at 45 with 11:50 left. The game was tied again at 49, 51 and again at 53 with 8:29 to go.
Broughton's basket in the paint gave the Bearcats a 55-53 lead at the 8:18 mark. But it would be more than three minutes before they would score again as Pembroke moved back in front, 58-55, on Brackett's 3-pointer and K.J. Cooper's layup off a long pass from Hughes.
Liptrot ended Lander's scoring drought with two free throws with 4:50 left. But Priest answered with two free throws of his own, giving the Braves a 60-57 lead with 4:30 to go. Quentin Bastian's free throw pulled the Bearcats within two points at the 3:21 mark.
Priest scored in the paint and after a couple of scoreless trips on both ends, George Blakeney made a layup to give Pembroke a 64-58 lead with 2:08 left.
Carrier scored off a put-back for Lander's first field goal in more than six minutes, pulling Lander within 64-60 with 1:57 remaining. Blakeney scored again underneath the basket, increasing Pembroke's lead to six with 1:38 to go.
Cooper made one of two free throws with 41 seconds left to give the Braves their largest lead of the game at 67-60. Bailey's long 3-pointer cut it to four at the 30-second mark and after a pair of Hughes free throws, Bailey pulled Lander within four again, 69-65, with a jumper with 15 seconds to go. Hargrove and Robinson added one free throw apiece for the game's final points.
