Zack Ciboth, Sports Editor
The #20 ranked UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team fell short in an overtime thriller to the Chowan Hawks in a key Conference Carolinas matchup. The Braves and Hawks battled from start to finish and continued to battle for five more minutes of extra basketball with the Hawks pulling away for the 82-75 win in OT.
Despite the loss the Braves claimed the East Division and Regular Season Championship finishing a regular season record of 21-6 overall and a conference record of 15-3.
“I mean props to Chowan, they battled it was a fight back and forth, they’re playing some really good basketball right now. Coach Rob Burke has done a great job there and they were able to make some plays down the stretch that ended up winning it for them,” UNCP men’s basketball coach Drew Richards said.
Trailing 67-64 with just seconds left in the game the Chowan Hawks had one opportunity to tie the game and send the game into overtime, in which they did thanks to a three-pointer by Hawks Preston Le Gassick that hit the rim and rolled in at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. To start the overtime period, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run to take a 76-67 lead with just less than a minute and a half to go. The Braves fought their way back to trail 78-71 but the Hawks held on for the win.
In the first half the Braves took the early lead 10-6 before the Hawks used a 7-0 run to tie the game at 14-14. The Braves responded with a run of their ow to push their lead out to 24-16. The Hawks responded right back with a 12-6 run to cut the Braves lead down to 30-28 heading into the locker room.
The Hawks came out of the locker room with a purpose and took the 35-34 lead to start the second half. From there the Braves stretched things back out with a series of runs to take a 38-35 lead and then a 51-46 lead. The Braves held on to that 66-61 lead before the Hawks closed things out and forced overtime.
Bradlee Haskell led the way for the Braves, finishing with 20 points, four assists and three rebounds. Javonte Waverly followed with 15 rebounds, five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal. JaJuan Carr and Cortez Marion-Holmes each finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
The Braves are the #1 seed in the Conference Carolinas Championship that will be contested at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on the campus of Wofford college in Spartanburg, S.C. on March 9th where they will await their opponent in a game that is set to tip-off at 12:30 p.m.