SPARTANBURG, S.C. — After physically pouring everything out on the floor over the previous two hours, Elijah Cobb walked over to his head coach, the two tall-bodied men embraced, and everything emotionally poured out of Cobb too.

The tearful hug came with a well-earned combination of joy from a moment of triumph and relief that a tense, back-and-forth war was, finally, over.

Cobb and the UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team edged Emmanuel 82-81 in overtime Sunday in the Conference Carolinas Tournament championship, earning the program’s first tournament title in Drew Richards’ tenure as head coach.

“To see a guy like Elijah Cobb, who’s constantly battling bugs and injuries, and to see him push himself to the brink of collapse guarding arguably the best player in the nation, and getting one of the biggest stops, in my opinion, in the history of UNCP,” Richards said. “That’s what’s more rewarding and satisfying is to see these guys and their hard work culminate in the cutting of nets.”

The Braves title came alongside a women’s conference championship won later Sunday, marking the first time since Belmont Abbey in 2021 that the same school won both titles, and the first time in four tournaments held at Wofford that a school has accomplished the feat.

UNCP (23-6) won its first conference tournament title since back-to-back Peach Belt crowns in 2017 and 2018. The Braves won this Conference Carolinas championship in their third-straight tournament as the top seed, doing so with overtime wins in both Saturday’s semifinal against No. 5 Barton and Sunday’s title tilt thriller with No. 2 Emmanuel (25-6).

“It’s just another really good college basketball game and I feel lucky that we came out on top,” Richards said. “It was another back-and-forth, back-and-forth (game); at no point did you feel like anybody had an advantage; everybody kind of made their runs. But I was proud of how we gutted it out. … I’m proud of these guys; I told them in the locker room, I don’t think there’s any coach in the world right now that’s as proud as I am of this group.”

Nygell Verdier made a driving layup with 14 seconds left in overtime to give UNCP a one-point advantage. After a timeout, Emmanuel got the ball in the hands of its best player — Conference Carolinas Player of the Year K.J. Jones — who got a good look at the basket from 10 feet. But the shot rimmed out, JaJuan Carr got the rebound for the Braves, and an outlet pass to Dallas Gardner allowed UNCP to run out the clock and begin an exuberant celebration.

“Once I saw the ball come off the rim, I just knew the only thing we had left to do was get the rebound and we win the game,” Verdier said. “(Jones) is a great player … that’s a shot he usually makes, so I’m glad he missed it and we got the rebound and sealed the deal.”

“You’ve got the Player of the Year in the league facing the Defensive Player of the Year in the league (Cobb), to win the league. It’s just kind of a script Hollywood would write,” Richards said. “The thing we pound in their brain is the way you win championships is defense and rebounding, and ultimately another kind of poetic is for us to win a championship we had to get a stop against the best player in the country, and we did, we found a way to do that.”

Verdier’s late lay-in was the second field goal in the extra session for UNCP, which was 5-for-5 at the free-throw line in overtime and 13-for-15 in the game. Dallas Gardner made a basket-and-1 to give the Braves a 76-75 lead at the 3:34 mark; Emmanuel twice went up by three, including an 81-78 lead after two Nate Gordon free throws with 1:32 left. Bradlee Haskell made four of the Braves’ five overtime free throws — and has now made 28 straight over the last five games — including a pair with 1:09 left to pull the Braves within a point at 81-80.

Verdier rebounded a missed shot by Emmanuel on the next possession before scoring on the other end to take the lead.

The game was in overtime thanks to a pair of last-minute plays in regulation by Cobb. The first, a layup with 40 seconds to go, tied the game at 73; the second was a block of Jones on a potential go-ahead layup attempt with 10 seconds left.

“I’m Defensive Player of the Year for a reason, so I’m just doing what I do,” Cobb said. “My teammates and my coaches, from the beginning, they believed in me, and I feel like that just helped on the season and it prepared me for this moment. I’m just fighting through adversity, doing my job and just trying to make my teammates better, that’s all I’m trying to do.”

Cobb finished with a team-high 22 points and had six rebounds and three assists, playing 84 minutes over two tournament games in a 26-hour span; the redshirt-junior forward was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“I told him, 2 1/2 years ago he’s sitting at home trying to take online classes with a bum knee, and to see him get the MVP and cut down nets, it’s incredible,” Richards said. “I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face, I think he’s the most talented player in the region, and I think he’s starting to realize that too. We’re a pretty deadly team whenever he has that killer instinct like I talked about, and if he consistently do that, there ain’t nobody that’s going to match up with him, I don’t care who it is.”

Cobb also made a freakish putback dunk off a missed free throw which helped spark a Braves comeback from a 61-55 deficit; the dunk made it 61-58 with 6:49 to play. Cobb also made a 3 moments later, making it 63-61, but the Lions went back up by six at 67-61 with 5:23 remaining.

Braves freshman Dallas Gardner scored on the team’s next two possessions, with a 3 followed by a long 2-pointer, before Cobb hit a jumper for a 68-67 lead at the 3:39 mark.

“(Gardner) works on his game, he deserves (it),” Richards said. “In practice, he’s a good shooter; he just doesn’t have the confidence sometimes in the game. But he made some clutch plays, and I’m also proud of two assists, zero turnovers for him as a freshman in that game.”

Jones scored on Emmanuel’s next trip, but Verdier answered with a triple to give the Braves a 71-69 lead. Spud Webb laid it in for Emmanuel to tie the game and two Chris Dees free throws gave the Lions a 73-71 lead before Cobb’s two big plays late.

Behind Cobb, Verdier finished with 18 points, Gardner scored 13 points with five rebounds and Haskell had 12 points for the Braves. Josh Berenbaum had nine rebounds and Carr had four assists.

Jones scored 31 points, including an 11-for-11 mark at the charity stripe, with eight rebounds for Emmanuel. Deese and Webb each scored 18 points.

In addition to Cobb, Verdier and Haskell earned All-Tournament honors for UNCP; Emmanuel’s Jones and Webb were also among the selections.

UNCP led 18-8 after a span of early baskets at the rim and 3s from Verdier and Gardner; Emmanuel used a 16-2 run to take a 28-23 lead before triples from Cobb and Jamarvious Jones helped pull the Braves even by the end of the half, with a 35-35 score at intermission.

Emmanuel took a 55-49 lead with 10:49 to play; UNCP closed to 55-53 before back-to-back triples by Chris Dees gave Emmanuel its 61-55 advantage midway through the second half.

The Braves learned later Sunday they earned a No. 5 seed for the Division II NCAA Tournament’s Southeast Region. They’ll face No. 4 Catawba in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with the regional held at North Georgia in Dahlonega, Georgia.

But while the team did gather Sunday evening after their return to Pembroke to watch the selection show and learn their tournament opponent, Richards wants to make sure they enjoy what they accomplished this weekend before turning their focus to the next challenge.

“There’s guys that go through their entire careers, coaches, players, that never get to do what we did today,” Richards said. “I want them to enjoy it, I want them to be with their families, I want them to talk to their friends, and just enjoy the moment. And the NCAA Tournament, when we start preparing for that, we’ll prepare for it, but right now it’s enjoy this moment with your teammates and your family.”