DANVILLE, Va. — The Averett University men's basketball team increased its conference winning streak to four games with an 85-67 victory over Huntingdon College on Saturday at the Grant Center.
Averett (14-4, 5-2 USA South) heated up from beyond the arc near the end of the first half to break open a tight game. Freshman
Austin DeLucia got things started with his 3-pointer to give Averett a 27-20 lead with 6:37 remaining in the period. Senior
Bradley Robinson followed with a 3-pointer of his own to increase the Cougars' lead to 11, 31-20, with 5:33 left on the clock. Averett also got triples from senior
Devontae Pannell and freshmen
Saadiq Johnson and
T.J. McAllister on its way to building a 43-26 advantage going into the break. The Cougars went 7 of 15 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Averett controlled the second half as well, taking a 22-point lead with 10:44 remaining in the game. The Cougars matched their biggest lead of the afternoon on senior
Carter Jones' layup in the paint that made it 62-40 with just under 10 minutes left. However, Huntingdon (8-10, 1-6 USA South) battled back to get within 70-59 at the 4:11 mark. That's as close as the Hawks would get though as Averett cruised the rest of the way en route to the conference victory.
Robinson led the Cougars with 17 points, while Jones had a solid night as well chipping with 15 points, including 12 points in the second half. DeLucia shot 4 of 6 from 3-point range on his way to 12 points and sophomore
James Contreras Jr. recorded nine points. Junior
Charles Bryant led Averett with nine rebounds while Jones and senior
Trevor West each chipped in with five.
Robinson continued his climb up the program's all-time scoring list, passing former teammate Justin Pierce (2009-13) who had 1,226 points, for fourth place.
The Cougars shot an impressive 48.3 percent from the field and finished 10-for-25 beyond the arc. Averett also turned in a 56.7 percent shooting performance from the charity stripe.
Averett returns to action on Sunday when it hosts LaGrange College in USA South Conference action at 3 p.m. The game will be part of the annual "Caring for Carrie" initiative to raise money for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Jamie Valvano, the daughter of legendary N.C. State head coach Jim Valvano, will be the guest speaker at the event.
