PEMBROKE, N.C. – The fire power of nationally-ranked UNC Pembroke was too much for the Chowan Men's Basketball team in league action on Tuesday evening in a 99-79 loss.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 79, #24 UNC Pembroke 99

RECORDS | Chowan 1-9 (1-7), UNC Pembroke 10-1 (7-1)

LOCATION | Pembroke, N.C. (Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Christian Koonce paced the team with a career-high 26 points on 8-8 shooting from the floor.  Jay Estime tallied 16 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

Donavon Martin put the Hawks on the board with a dunk before UNC Pembroke raced out to a double-digit lead.  Martin picked up a point at the stripe and Marcus Elliott knocked down a jumper to cut the deficit to 13-5.

Christian Koonce tallied three points at the stripe before Jay Estime and Koonce tallied a bucket each to close the gap to 16-12.  Koonce connected from deep to keep pace with the Braves.  A pair of free throws pushed the Hawks forward as UNCP held their lead.

Chase Barnett picked up a pair at the stripe following the media timeout before the Braves went on a quick 5-0 run to push their advantage back to double-digits, 30-19.

Marcus Elliott notched a layup and a three-pointer as UNCP answered at the other end.  Cheick Traore tallied a point at the stripe.  Christian Koonce ended a two minute scoring drought with a jumper.  Koonce added a free throw to trim the deficit to 38-28.

Jay Estime and Calvin Ahoume added a jumper and Christian Koonce picked up a pair at the stripe.  Koonce added a jumper before the half.

UNC Pembroke led 46-36 at the half.

Second Half:

Donavon Martin put the Hawks on the board with a putback dunk.  Jay Estime knocked down back-to-back three-pointers and Chase Barnett added a layup to maintain the scoring, 57-47.  Estime added another pair of triples to close the gap to 57-53 with 14:56 remaining.

The Braves pushed their lead back to double-figures at the stripe sparking a big run before RJ Wilson knocked down a jumper.  Christian Koonce scored the next five points for the Hawks with an old-fashioned three-point play.  RJ Wilson connected from deep and Daylen Askew picked up a pair from the stripe.

Christian Koonce added a layup as the Braves pushed their advantage to 95-68 with over five minutes to play.  Koonce tacked on a layup before Paul Whitby connected from the floor.  Xavier Young posted a layup before Aaron James picked up a point at the stripe.  Young picked up a pair at the stripe for the final points of the contest.

UP NEXT

Chowan will make their first trip to Spartanburg, S.C. to take on Converse for the first time in program history, as Converse added men's sports during the 2021-22 season.  The Hawks and Valkyries are scheduled to tip-off on January 7 at 7pm.