Georgia Southwestern's Chris Rawls scored a game-high 23 points in 39 minutes of action against UNCP on Sunday afternoon as the Hurricanes defeated the Braves, 68-62, at the English E. Jones Center in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.

With the win GSW is now 5-10 on the year overall, while picking up its first conference victory of the season to move to 1-4 in PBC play. The Braves drop their fifth consecutive game to fall to 5-11 on the season with a 1-6 mark in conference.

Senior forward Brandon Thomas scored a team-high 15 points off the bench for UNCP, with guards Shahmel Brackett and Chris Hargrove posting 14 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore Mike Robinson recorded a career-high five blocks in the contest while Hargrove pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

GSW's Marcus Scott scored 17 points for the Hurricanes, including a pair of free throws to help ice the victory in the closing moments of the game. Evan Mobley led all players with five assists directing the GSW offense.

With the score tied at 22 with 4:25 left to go in the first half the Hurricanes went on an 11-4 run over the final four minutes to take a 33-26 advantage into the break as Mobley hit a 3-pointer in the closing moments of the half to give GSW the seven-point advantage.

UNCP was able to hold the Hurricanes to just six points over the first five minutes of the second half, tying the game at 39 on a K.J. Cooper jumper with 14:16 to go. The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth over the next 10 minutes, battling to a 58-58 tie with 3:41 left in the game.

The score was still tied with 1:35 to go when Derek Smith hit a layup to give GSW a 62-60 lead with just over a minute to play. Thomas tied the game up for UNCP with 48 seconds left marking the 10th time in the contest that score was tied.

Rawls hit a layup of his own to give the Hurricanes a 64-62 lead with 34 seconds to go. Pembroke could not convert on its next offensive possession and was forced to foul to conserve time on the clock. Scott converted two free throws and then Smith converted another two to seal the victory for the Hurricanes.

GSW completes a four-game PBC road trip on Wednesday evening at North Georgia.

PICTURED: Chris Rawls

PHOTO BY: Chris Fenn

Special thanks to UNCP Sports Information