Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Better late than never. Despite never holding a lead for the first 38 minutes, Averett came from behind to edge Greensboro College 69-63 on Monday night. The win ended a three-game skid for the Cougars.
Despite tying the game on several occasions early in the second half, Averett (7-12, 4-4 USA South) couldn’t seem to break through. Greensboro (9-11, 2-5 USA South) pulled away to a 52-40 lead with just under eight minutes to play.
Still, the Cougars kept fighting. Freshman
Brandon Douglas nailed a 3-pointer and senior
Jeff Wehling’s steal led to a
Michael St. John layup for a five-point swing that cut the Pride’s lead back down to 52-47 with 6:22 remaining. Averett eventually chipped the deficit down to 58-56 on a pair of
Brandon Malone free throws with 3:48 to go. After a Greensboro miss at the other end, the Cougars tied the game on Douglas’ spin move for a layup.
After trading points, Averett finally took its first lead of the game with 1:55 remaining. St. John hit one of two layups to put the Cougars ahead 61-60. Greensboro regained the lead at the other end on a Chakiris Moss jumper, but Averett stormed back with a
Chad Hardway layup.
Following a defensive stop, Douglas drove the lane and missed, but Wehling grabbed the rebound and headily tossed it back out to St. John, who was fouled with 24.4 seconds on the clock. He made both free throws, as well as two more moments later to help Averett pull out the comeback win.
Douglas, whose previous best output was 11 points at Methodist on Jan. 13, finished with a career-high 17 points. Hardway added 17 points and 10 rebounds. St. John finished with nine points.
Averett overcome a rough shooting night that saw them make only 30.8 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half and only 6-of-28 from beyond the arc for the game.
The Cougars bounced back from a heart-breaking 60-58 loss to Greensboro on Jan. 9 in Danville.
Greensboro led 32-26 at halftime and pulled ahead by as many as 12 points in the second half.
Luqman Tijani paced the Pride with 17 points. Moss added 11 points and Adam Powell scored 10.
The Cougars return to action on Saturday when they play host to Methodist University at 4 p.m. at the Grant Center.