Box Score
Box Score


FERRUM, Va. — A furious rally ran out of time as Averett's comeback fell short in a 92-89 loss at Ferrum College on Wednesday night.

Averett (6-9, 1-2 USA South) had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer after Ferrum (9-5, 2-1 USA South) missed a pair of free throws with 3.9 seconds to go, but junior Jonathan Setters' last-second shot from inside midcourt hit the low ceiling in Ferrum's Swartz Gymnasium.

Ferrum answered every attempt of Averett's to get the Panther lead down to single digits for most of the second half. The Cougars finally broke that barrier when sophomore Paul Porter got a putback to trim the Ferrum lead to 91-82 with 49.4 seconds to play. Ferrum hit one of two free throws at the other end, but once again Porter answered with a layup to cut the deficit to eight.

Averett forced a Ferrum turnover and Porter got another putback to get the Cougars within 92-86 with 15.8 seconds remaining. Two more missed free throws left the door open for Averett, which pulled within three points after a 3-pointer from Sunil Ram with 4.8 seconds to go.

After an Averett timeout, the Cougars fouled Ferrum's Jevonte Rankin, who subsequently missed both free throws to set up the final heave by Setters.

Averett outscored Ferrum 56-43 in the second half, but couldn't overcome the hole it dug in the first half. Averett jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening minutes, only to see Ferrum rattle off a 25-3 run to take control of the game. The hot-handed Panthers shot 53 percent in the first half and hit 5-of-10 from beyond the arc to take a 49-33 lead by halftime.

Porter and Setters both equaled career-highs with 23 points and 16 points respectively. Porter also added nine rebounds. Junior Justin Pierce finished with 16 points, junior Marquis Scott had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Ram added 12 points for the Cougars.

Nick English led Ferrum with 17 points.

Averett will look to rebound from the loss at home against N.C. Wesleyan College on Saturday at 4 p.m.