Nick Kolsin, Sports Reporter
The UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team defeated the Barton College Bulldogs in an overtime thriller to advance to the finals of the Conference Carolinas Men’s Basketball Tournament. A back-and-forth tightly contested game needed more than 40 minutes of play to decide a winner as the game came down to the wire with the Braves coming out on top 79-73.
The Braves are back in the championship game for the second time in the past three seasons and avenge a semifinals loss last season where they fell to Belmont Abbey 77-67.
Quickly, the Bulldogs fired off a 9-2 run to take a 59-55 lead with seven minutes left. The Braves and Bulldogs traded baskets for the next five minutes until Nygell Verdier hit a huge three to give the braves a 63-61 lead with under two minutes to play. After the Bulldogs hit a three, Bradlee Haskell came down and hit another three to get the lead back up to 66-64. A Reese McDonald jumper with 30 seconds left to tie the game was the last bucket of regulation forcing the game to go into overtime.
The Braves came out the gates firing in OT with a huge 9-0 run to start the extra period leading 77-68 with help from Verdier and Haskell. After only holding the Bulldogs to five points in OT, the Braves were able to win to secure a spot in the finals.
“I always feel confident with these guys when we walk into OT because we practice those situations,” Head coach Drew Richards said after the game about the strong overtime performance. “I told them we’ve done it in practice we could do it out here.”
Jajuan Carr started off the scoring for the Braves with a quick layup in the paint to give the Braves the early lead. The teams then traded baskets for the next five minutes giving the Braves an 8-7 lead going into the first media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Braves went on a 9-2 run lead by a tough and-1 bucket in the paint by Dallas Gardner to extend the lead to 17-9.
The Bulldogs were able to capitalize off of four Braves turnovers to pull it back within three with seven minutes to go in the first half. Braves brought it back to seven with an Amare Miller layup giving them a 32-25 lead. After the ensuing timeout, the Bulldogs pulled off a 11-3 run capped off by a three from Reese McDonald giving the Barton College Bulldogs a 36-35 lead at halftime.
The Braves’ cold streak continued coming out of halftime only being able to score three points in the first five minutes coming out of half. However, their tenacious defense remained strong only allowing six points in that span. A Jamarvious Jones three pointer brought the braves back within two with 13 minutes to go in the contest. After a five-point stretch from Haskell, the Braves were able to take a 52-50 heading into those last pivotal minutes.
Haskell led the way finishing with a career-high 24 points, Verdier followed with 17 points and seven rebounds. Cobb finished the afternoon with eight points and 13 rebounds to go along with four blocks. JaJuan Carr also added eight points with nine rebounds.
It will be a battle of the #1 and #2 seed in the Conference Carolinas Championship game where the #1 seeded Braves will meet the #2 seeded Emmanuel Lions at 1 p.m. tomorrow inside Jerry Richardson Stadium on the campus of Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.