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.

The second half began with UNC Pembroke obtaining its first lead of the game since the opening two minutes at the 15:44 mark of the second half. Egli’s lay-up earned the Braves a 58-57 lead. After a free throw by Egli and two consecutive buckets for USC Aiken’s Byron Faison (Sumter, S.C./Winthrop) the Pacers held a 61-59 lead with 14:39 left in the second half.

Faison then scored his seventh consecutive point on a three-pointer and Sterling Council (Camden, S.C./Camden) hit a fast break jumper in the paint that had pushed the Pacer lead back to seven at 66-59.

The Pacers had extended their lead to 13 points at 79-66 with 7:09 left in the game. Almost five minutes later the Pacer lead was 15 with Brown hitting two free throws with 2:46 left in the contest. The two free throws earned Brown his career high.

The Pacers would hold on to that 15-point advantage down the stretch in earning the 95-80 victory. The 95 points were the most for the Pacers in 2009-10 thus far. The Pacers are 2-0 when scoring 90 or more in the current season.

USC Aiken finished the UNC Pembroke win shooting 47 percent (31-for-66). The Braves shot 44.8 percent (30-of-67) from the floor in the loss. Both teams shot exactly 45 percent (9-for-20) from beyond the arc in the game.

The Pacers shot a combined 80 percent (24-of-30) from the free throw line in the win.

Brown (Charlotte, N.C./Hickory Grove Christian) was 5-for-7 from the field, including 4-for-6 from three-point range, in picking up his career high. Brown was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the game. The 22 points usurped his previous career high of 18 points that he secured in a Pacer 72-69 win over North Georgia during the 2006-07 season.

Brown was one of five Pacers in double figures in the win over UNC Pembroke. Faison was 5-for-11 from the field en route to 13 points. Seth Leonard (York, Pa./William Penn) scored 11 and brought down eight rebounds, while freshman point guard Re’mon Nelson (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) ended the Pacer win with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Michael Technow (Boca Raton, Fla./American) and Kevin Willis (Atlanta, Ga./Kaskaskia) were the final Pacers in double digits with the Pacer post men finishing with 11 and 10, respectively.

In a balanced victory, 10 Pacers scored in the victory with all but one of the Pacers to see action scoring a basket in the 15-point win.

Four Braves finished in double figures with Shahmel Brackett leading the way with a game-high 26 points. Bracket was 9-for-15 from the field in the game.

The Pacer men and women will next conclude the tremendously tough four games in seven days stretch with two games in two days on Saturday, Jan. 9 and Sunday, Jan. 10. It all begins with USC Aiken's second consecutive road twinbill against Armstrong Atlantic State in Savannah, Ga. The USC Aiken women will kick off the doubleheader by taking on the Armstrong Atlantic State women at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9. The Pacer men and Pirate men will then square off in the twinbill finale at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The week concludes for the Pacers with Columbus State visiting the Convocation Center for a doubleheader on Sunday, Jan. 10. The Pacer women and Columbus State women will begin the twinbill with a 2:30 p.m. contest. The USC Aiken men and the Columbus State men will then close the afternoon out by playing the second game of the doubleheader at approximately 4:30 p.m.

The USC Aiken-Columbus State doubleheader will be Cedar Creek West Day at the Convocation Center. The USC Aiken athletic department will also honor its spring student-athletes during the twinbill. During the men's game as always there will be the Burger King Breakfast Shot for a Car where one fan will have the opportunity to take a shot for a free car!