DANVILLE, Va. — The Averett University men's basketball fell 70-63 to Hampden-Sydney College on Tuesday night in the Cougars' season opener at the Grant Center.
Hampden-Sydney (1-0) used its size advantage to outmuscle Averett (0-1) under the boards in the first half. The Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 26-15 in the first 20 minutes. Averett also had trouble slowing down Hampden-Sydney from outside as the Tigers shot 44.4 percent from 3-point range in the opening period.
The Tigers took their largest lead of the game at the 8:18 mark in the first half courtesy of a 3-pointer from Jake Duncan that made the score 23-8. However, the Cougars battled back and trimmed their deficit to six with 18 seconds left in the first half on a layup from freshman
Accheaus Fields.
Fields turned in a strong performance for Averett, finishing the night with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and pulled down five rebounds in his first collegiate start. Senior
Charles Bryant led the offensive charge for the Cougars, recording 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Junior
James Contreras Jr. opened the season with a 13-point performance for Averett.
The Cougars found themselves facing double-digit deficits several times in the second half. Averett, though, refused to hang its head and kept fighting. Hunter Kuehn's jumper in the paint with 12 minutes remaining in regulation matched the Tigers' largest lead of the second period at 52-39. The Cougars fought back and went on a 10-2 run over the course of the next four minutes to trim their deficit down to five with just over eight minutes remaining.
Hampden-Sydney responded well and pushed its lead back to double-digits when Josh Katowitz nailed a jumper in the paint to make it a 62-51 contest at the 4:33. That would be enough to help the Tigers to the season opening victory.
The Cougars turned in a solid performance from the charity stripe, making seven of their 10 shots from the free throw line.
Averett returns to action on Nov. 18 when it travels to Winchester, Virginia, to play Hood College at 6 p.m. in the opening round of the Shenandoah University Tip-Off.
