Wednesday Jan 6, 2010

PEMBROKE, N.C. – Mark Brown scored a career high 22 points and USC Aiken acquired its fifth straight victory with a 95-80 win over UNC Pembroke in Peach Belt Conference men’s basketball action on Wednesday evening at the English E. Jones Center.

The Pacers’ fifth consecutive victory improves them to 7-3 on the 2009-10 season. USC Aiken is now 2-1 in Peach Belt Conference action. The loss drops UNC Pembroke to 5-8 overall. The Braves are presently 1-3 in the PBC.

USC Aiken has now won the last six games in the UNC Pembroke series. The Pacers own a 25-11 all-time series advantage over the Braves since the series began in 1990.

USC Aiken led for the majority of the first half. Up by four at 15-11 with 13:21 remaining in the first half, UNC Pembroke’s Tyler Egli hit a three-pointer with 13:01 left to pull UNC Pembroke to within one at 15-14. The Pacers would then proceed to go on a 13-4 run that earned them a 10-point 28-18 advantage with 8:45 left in the first half of play.

That would be as far ahead in the half that the Pacers would be able to get with UNC Pembroke cutting the Pacer lead to just three points by intermission at 45-42.

USC Aiken concluded the first half shooting 43.6 percent (17-for-39). The Braves in turn shot 47.2 percent (17-for-36). Both were deft from beyond the arc with the Pacers connecting on six of their 13 attempts (46.2 percent) and the Braves hitting at a 55.6 percent clip (5-of-9) from three-point range in the first half.

In the ladies game, Deandra Schirmer brought down a career-high 14 rebounds and Brittany Bowen scored a career-best 14 points, but it would not be enough as USC Aiken fell 55-52 to UNC Pembroke in Peach Belt Conference women’s basketball action on Wednesday evening at the English E. Jones Center.

The loss is the third straight for the Pacers, who dropped to 5-7 overall and 0-3 in Peach Belt Conference action with the loss to the Braves. UNC Pembroke improved to 7-6 overall and 1-3 in the PBC with the victory over the Pacers.

Neither team could find a bucket early on with UNC Pembroke netting the first points of the game with 16:44 left in the first stanza on free throws by JaToya Kemp. Two minutes later Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C. /Merrimack College) plucked the first basket of the contest for the Pacers when she hit a lay-up with 14:45 remaining in the first half. The score tied 2-2 things changed from there as USC Aiken took over the rest of the half. In her first career start, Bowen (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) got things rolling for USC Aiken when she nailed a three-pointer with 13:58 left in the first half of play.

By the 7:14 mark of the first half, USC Aiken held a 21-6 lead. The 21-4 run over the almost nine-minute span gave the Pacers total control as they entered intermission on top by 13 points at 28-15.