By, Zack Ciboth, Sports Editor
The UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team picked up a hard-fought win over the Belmont Abbey Crusaders Saturday afternoon in Conference Carolina’s action. The Braves controlled the pace of the game throughout and fended off a Crusaders comeback late holding on for the 67-56 win.
With the win the Braves improved to 12-3 on the year and remain unbeaten in the conference with a 6-0 record. The Crusaders will fall to 5-11 on the season and 4-3 in the conference.
Bradlee Haskell led the way for the Braves, finishing with 16 points and five rebounds. Elijah Cobb followed with nine points and five rebounds, Josh Berenbaum finished with nine points and brought down two rebounds. Dallas Gardner finished the afternoon with eight points, JaJuan Carr, and Amare Miller with seven points each, Nygell Verdier with six points and Javonte Waverly with five points.
Women’s Basketball
In the earlier game of the day, the UNC Pembroke women’s basketball team fell short of a victory over the Belmont Abbey Crusaders in Conference Carolina action. After cutting the lead down to one point the Braves had one shot and fell shy of the attempt, falling 37-36.
The Braves fell to 10-5 on the season and 5-1 in Conference Carolinas. The Crusaders improved to 11-5 and 5-1 in the conference.
Kalaya Hall and Lillian Flantos led the way for the Braves, finishing with 10 points each. Hall added seven rebounds and Flantos with six rebounds. Zaria Clark followed with six points and four rebounds, Kelci Adams and Courtney Smith finished with three points each and Aniah McManus and Hannah Rusell with two points each.
The Braves will be back in action at home on Wednesday for a doubleheader with Barton. Tip-off for the women’s game is 5 p.m. and the men will follow at 7 p.m.
The Men and Women’s Indoor Track and Field has a strong showing this past weekend in the Mondo College Invitational held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston Salem, N.C.
On the men’s side of things Travon Morrow took second place in the 200m, Tayvon Callahan placed third in the 60m hurdles and Tyshone Bolden Jr placed third in the high jump. In the 200m also the Braves had two more finishes in the top ten with Ny’lon Fair-Steele taking fifth and Joshua Ellerbe taking seventh. Cole Thomas took 6th in the pole vault, Cedric Douglas placed sixth in the shot put, David Bunker with eighth in long jump and Payden Lewis with eighth in the mile run to round out scoring.
On the women side of the invitational Kristen Shuford took home first place in the 400m race. Following behind was Moureen Kimaiyo placing fourth in the 3000m race and sixth in the mile run. Also placing fifth in the 3000m run was Kathryn Anderson. Carina Fiorucci placed seventh in the pole vault, and Alycia Artman with a ninth-place finish in the shot put to round out the productive day.
The Braves will be back in action January 19 and 20 as they head to Columbia, S.C. to take part in the Carolina Challenge hosted by the University of South Carolina at the Carolina Indoor Facility.