SPARTANBURG, S.C. — An overtime session in the UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team’s regular-season finale on Feb. 28 saw a Braves team who was stunned to be there struggle in a loss to Chowan.

After waiting 10 days to play again, in Saturday’s semifinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament, the Braves went to overtime again against Barton — and this time played their best five minutes of the game in the extra session, earning a 79-73 win.

“I feel like the last game when we went to OT that was more of an asterisk compared to what we normally do in OT, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in these guys,” Richards said. “We’ve got guys that played over 40 minutes tonight, and I was proud these guys found a way. We’ve got guys puking on the sideline and bench, falling out, but they found a way when they stepped on that court to utilize every bit of intestinal fortitude, and they found a way to win at the end.”

Top-seeded UNCP (22-6) advances to the tournament final for the second time in the last three seasons. The Braves will face No. 2 Emmanuel, who defeated No. 3 Chowan 81-69 in Saturday’s other semifinal.

After the teams traded 2-point baskets to start the extra session, Nygell Verdier hit a pair of layups that gave UNCP a 72-68 lead with 2:11 left in the period.

Verdier had briefly left the game — requiring a replacement at the free-throw line — after the sting from a tough fall on his tailbone. He returned to hit a key 3 late in regulation before the two baskets to build an overtime lead.

“Coach told last night it was going to take a lot for us four to step up: me, (Bradlee Haskell), Elijah (Cobb) and JaJuan (Carr) to step up,” Verdier said. “When I went out I thought about that moment; I was like ‘nah, my team needs me, I can’t be on the bench.’ So I played through it.”

A possession later, Haskell hit a 3 to give the Braves a 75-68 lead with 1:34 to play.

Haskell started the game 3-for-13 from the floor and 1-for-9 from 3 before hitting some key baskets down the stretch and this overtime 3 for a seven-point advantage. He finished with a team-high 24 points, including an 11-for-11 mark at the free-throw line, and had three assists.

“My teammates were getting me open looks, I just wasn’t knocking them down,” Haskell said. “But I knew down the stretch that the past didn’t matter, they were going to need me to make a shot, and I knocked a couple down.”

Moments later, as fifth-seeded Barton (15-16) sought a much-needed basket to keep its hopes alive as the game entered its final minute, Cobb ran in from behind the play and leaped up in the air to block a layup attempt from behind, all but hurdling Verdier in the process.

“(Cobb) is almost blacking out in our huddle over here trying to catch his breath, so I just assumed the play was going to happen on the other end, and all of a sudden it felt like he ran past everybody,” Richards said of Cobb, the Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year. “In the postseason, one play is the difference between a great team and a championship team, and that was E-man’s one play that he made in that possession that really helped us continue with the momentum that we had.”

UNCP finished the overtime session with two made free throws apiece from Haskell and Verdier — finishing a 19-for-22 game at the stripe for the Braves — to seal the win.

The Braves trailed 61-58 at the under-4 media timeout before a layup by Cobb and a 3 by Verdier gave UNCP a 63-61 lead with less than two minutes to play. Donaven Hairston hit a 3 to briefly give Barton back the lead, but Haskell answered with his own triple for a 66-64 advantage with 1:06 left.

Reese McDonald hit a jumper for Barton to tie the game at the 40-second mark; both sides came up empty on the final possession of regulation.

Behind Haskell, Verdier finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, Jamarvious Jones hit three key 3s to finish with nine points, Cobb had eight points with 13 rebounds and four blocks, and Carr had eight points with nine rebounds.

Hairston led Barton with 28 points, eight rebounds and five steals; McDonald scored 18 points with four steals and Trevon Spencer scored nine points for the Bulldogs.

UNCP used an 11-2 run to take a 15-7 lead less than seven minutes into the game; the Braves already had six players with a basket in that early-game span.

A Haskell 3, followed by the Carr putback of a missed Haskell 3-point try on the following possession, gave the Braves a 22-12 lead with 9:16 left in the half. A 7-0 Barton run closed the gap to 22-19 before the Braves extended their advantage back to seven points on three different occasions through the later minutes of the period.

Barton took a 33-32 lead after an 8-0 run led by five points from McDonald. Jones and McDonald exchanged 3s in the last 35 seconds of the first half to give the Bulldogs a 36-35 lead at the break.

The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 46-41 early in the second half before Jones hit a pair of 3s to get UNCP within a point at 48-47 with 12:30 to play.

“Jamarvious Jones is a senior for us, he hit some monster 3s when we really needed them, and a guy that we haven’t called on as much as we probably should’ve this year,” Richards said.

Two free throws and a layup by Haskell gave UNCP a 52-50 lead, the first of four lead changes in quick succession midway through the half. Barton retook the lead at 59-54 with less than seven minutes to go before UNCP’s late-game charge.

“We thought it was going to be a war, but it became more of a war than I even thought,” Richards said. “We’ve got warriors, Barton’s got warriors, every time we play these guys it’s a knockdown, drag-out, physical (game). That was a great college basketball game and luckily we came out on top. … I thought they gave us their best punch possible, but we’ve got some tough guys too so luckily we ended up finishing on top.”

After playing a 45-minute game — including 36 minutes or more apiece on the court for Verdier, Carr and Cobb and 42 for Haskell — rest will be key for the Braves with a 24-hour turnaround before Sunday’s championship game.

“To win in March, you’ve got to ride your horses, and we’ve luckily got some pretty good horses to ride, and we’ve been able to have guys like them in the past,” Richards said. “So this is a big step-up moment, maturity wise and taking ownership of this program, for some of those guys in that locker room. It’s going to be a lot of rest, a lot of mental preparation for the game tomorrow, and then when the ball tips up see what we can do.”

Emmanuel, the defending Conference Carolinas Tournament champions, beat UNCP with a 78-67 decision on its home floor on Feb. 3.