PEMBROKE — The UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team shook off a slow start and took the lead for good in a hard-fought win against the Francis Marion Patriots in Conference Carolinas action Saturday in Pembroke. Once the Braves got things rolling, they took control of the game and came away with the 89-65 win.

“We had some of our key points that we took from their place when we figured they’d come in here with extra fire cause of how the game went down at their place,” UNCP coach Drew Richards said. “So, we kind of had been preaching about starting the game well because of the way that Francis (Marion) plays. If you get behind, you’re in trouble because it’s a track meet. I thought for the most part we were locked in, and they were tough, they got some talented players.”

The Braves (19-5, 13-2 CC) and Patriots (12-11, 10-5 CC) battled early in the first half with the Braves taking the 9-8 lead. With UNCP up 15-10, the offenses of both teams woke up, and with a 13-9 scoring advantage the Braves pushed their lead to 28-19 with 7:06 remaining in the half. The scoring slowed down but then picked up again as the first half ended with a 43-31 Braves lead.

UNCP came out the second half on fire with a 7-2 scoring run to extend their lead to 50-33. As the Patriots tried to chip away at the lead time after time the Braves kept pushing it out lead 60-37 halfway through the half and then 65-44 with under 10 minutes left. The offense closed things out with huge momentum to come away with the Battle of I-95 win over the Patriots.

Bradlee Haskell led the way for the Braves, finishing with 17 points, two rebounds and seven assists. Javonte Waverly and Amare Miller each finished with 13 points, Elijah Cobb finished the night with seven rebounds and two assists. Josh Bernbaum and Nygell Verdier each had seven points, JaJuan Carr had six, Amadou Faye and Tyreik McCallum with five each and Dallas Gardner scored three.

“I know if I got inside the paint, made a couple shot fakes, get my teammates open, then I’d just fuel my game to get me going,” Bradlee Haskell said.

The Braves will start a two-game road trip on Wednesday when they travel to take on the Mount Olive Trojans. The women’s game will tipoff at 5 p.m. followed by the men’s game at 7 p.m.