GREENWOOD – UNC Pembroke made 19 3-pointers while Bradlee Haskell scored a career-high 30 points as the Braves spoiled Lander's 2024-25 home opener 93-74 Sunday afternoon at Horne Arena.
The Bearcats fell to 0-2 while UNC Pembroke improved to 1-3.
The Braves made 19 of 36 from 3-point range (52 percent), repeatedly hitting long-range shots anytime Lander got close.
Dominic Stanford led Lander with 16 points on six of 11 shooting from the floor,
Jeremiah Holloway and
Greyson Pritzl scored 13 points apiece while
Tim Steele added 12 points.
Haskell made nine of 14 shots from the floor including a team-high eight treys out of 12 attempts and also had five assists to lead the Braves.
Dallas Gardner scored 20 points for UNC Pembroke, Elijah Cobb added 14 points and nine rebounds, and JaJuan Carr and Josh Berenbaum also collected five assists.
UNC Pembroke took leads of 7-0, 10-2 and then 18-9 with 15 minutes left with Stanford keeping the Bearcats in the game with a 3-pointer and two other baskets.
Lander scored nine unanswered points to tie at 18 with 11:53 left. Dunn swished a trey,
Torrin Andrews converted a driving layup into a three-point play, and Pritzl found
Terry Leonard Jr. open in the left corner for a game-tying 3-pointer.
Steele scored the next seven Bearcat points as the game was tied at 25 just inside the seven-minute mark. And after Cobb put the Braves back on top with a trey, Holloway knotted the game at 28 with a corner 3.
Stanford became the game's first double-figure scorer when he made a driving dunk, tying the score at 32 with four minutes left.
Dunn hit a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play as Lander rallied from six down to tie at 38. It was the sixth tie of the game.
But Haskell made three treys and Quay Watson another as UNC Pembroke finished the first half strong and led 52-40 at the break. The Braves made 12 treys in the opening half.
Steele's off-balance 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring was a highlight for the Bearcats early in the second half. But UNC Pembroke extended its lead to 58-47 with 16 minutes left on Haskell's sixth trey.
Pritzl hit four of four free throws and added a driving layup, rallying Lander within 63-60 with 13:24 to go.
Leonard Jr. converted a steal and driving acrobatic layup into a three-point play, cutting the Bearcat deficit to 74-69 with 8:13 left. But UNC Pembroke responded as it had all game with another 3-pointer, this one by Berenbaum.
Berenbaum's basket ignited a game-breaking 13-0 run which included Cobb's alley-oop dunk and 3-pointer and Haskell's eighth trey.
