North Georgia wins second straight
PEMRBOKE, NC - North Georgia College & State
University’s Nick Pope connected on 7-of-10 three-point field
goals, scoring 23 points on Saturday afternoon as the Saints
defeated UNC Pembroke 72-60 in Peach Belt Conference men’s
basketball action at the English E. Jones Center
Not to be outdone by his teammate, Xavier Trice scored 20 point for
the Saints on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor. Andre Morgan chipped
in an additional 11 points to the Saints’ total with Jakirra
Millsap tallying 11 assists for North Georgia.
UNCP (7-16, 2-14 PBC) was led on offense by Demarcus Lyday who
finished the game with a season-high 17 points. Cortez Brown scored
in double figures for the Braves notching 12 points while Jonathan
Hart added 10 of his own for Pembroke. Jarrell Hunter pulled down a
game-high eight rebounds (seven defensive).
As a team North Georgia converted 13-of-22 trey’s on the day,
scoring only 12 points in the paint compared to 22 for UNCP.
However the Braves could not match the Saints’ offensive
output from behind the three-point arc going 3-9 in the game.
North Georgia jumped out to an early 8-4 lead with 16:22 left in
the opening frame, but neither team would score a bucket for the
next four minutes. The Saints would eventually pull away leading by
as much as nine points on two occasions but the Braves were able to
pull within four with 35 seconds left. However, Pope would drain a
3-pointer with 8 seconds left to give North Georgia a 33-26
halftime lead.
Pope would open the second half with another trey and North Georgia
would extend its lead to 10. The Saints would lead by as many as 14
in the second half but the Braves would pull it back to within
single digits 11 different times including pulling to within 8
points with 3:12 to play. Nevertheless the Saints would keep
themselves at arms length of the Braves for the rest of the game
winning eventually, 72-60.
North Georgia shot 52.4 percent from the floor while also shooting
59.1 percent from behind the arc. The Braves finished the game
shooting 48.8 percent from the floor on 21-43 shooting but only
shot 33.3 percent on 3-pointers.
North Georgia (14-9, 9-7 PBC) will be back in action on
Monday, February 18, hosting in-state and PBC rival Georgia
Southwestern at 7:30 p.m.