Men’s Basketball Complete Season Sweep of Bobcats
The Braves completed their season sweep of the Georgia College Bobcats Feb. 3 by a considerable point margin of 75-58 at the Centennial Center in Milledgeville, Georgia.
The second time around the Black and Gold did not require double overtime or even the roaring cheers of their home crowd fans as they dominated their hosts on their home turf.
This victory marked the UNCP’s first road win against Georgia College on their home court in over two decades, and it snapped the 16 road-game losing streak against the Bobcats that dates back to a slim 81-78 win on Feb. 12, 1994.
Junior James Murray-Boyles came off the bench and flourished in his sixth man role as he led the Braves in scoring on the afternoon going 6-11 shooting from the field. Although MurrayBoyles led the team in total rebounds, he fell just one board shy of his second double-double of the season as he corralled nine on the day.
Sophomore Akia Pruitt came in second on the team in both points scored and rebounds with 13 points, and he corralled seven boards. Freshmen and Lumberton native David Strother had an impressive outing leading the team with five assists and four steals, as well as tied with fellow starting freshmen Tyrell Kirk for third on the team in scoring with a dozen a piece.
Senior Brandon Watts’ 11 points on the afternoon resulted in him passing his former teammate Quamain Rose for sixth place in the program’s all time leading scorers list. In three plus years as a Brave Watts has already recorded nearly 1,600 points and is just 40 points shy of reaching the top five in program history.
The Braves jumped out to an 11-2 lead in just under the first three minutes of the contest and would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the afternoon. After the Black and Gold led 32-24 at halftime, the Bobcats cut the lead to seven (38- 31) coming out of the locker room, but a 20-5 run over a six-minute span put the game out of reach for Georgia College indefinitely.
