FERRUM, Va. — A pair of free throws from Rashawn Speas with seven seconds left in overtime lifted Ferrum College to a 62-61 win over Averett University on Saturday at Swartz Gymnasium.
 
Despite falling behind early in the extra period, Averett (15-10, 6-8 USA South) took a 61-60 lead thanks to a clutch 3-pointer from senior Trevor West with 36 seconds on the clock. After both teams went scoreless over the next 27 seconds, Averett was whistled for a foul and Ferrum (13-12, 8-6 USA South) went to the line. Speas made both of his attempts from the charity stripe. The Cougars got the ball back down the court, but a last second 3-pointer fell short, lifting the Panthers to the victory.
 
Once again, Averett found itself in a tight game. The Cougars held a 56-54 advantage with under 15 seconds left in regulation. Averett had an opportunity to seal the win, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Ferrum grabbed the rebound. Marvin Wilson took a feed from Steven Jones and converted his layup to tie the game at 56-56 late in the contest.
 
Jones paced the Cougars offensively, scoring a team-high 16 points along with recording seven rebounds. Senior Bradley Robinson added nine points to compliment his team-high nine rebounds.
 
Ferrum stormed out of the gate early and took a 12-4 lead with just under 15 minutes left to play in the first period. However, Jones caught fire, scoring eight of his 16 points in a nine-minute span to help spark a Cougars' rally.  Junior Charles Bryant made good on a layup that tied the game at 21-21 at the 3:52 mark. Nearly a minute later, Averett took its first lead of the game courtesy of a 3-pointer from freshman Austin DeLucia that made it 24-21. A pair of free throws from Jones gave the Cougars a five-point advantage with 2:23 remaining on the clock. However, Ferrum scored six of the game's next nine points to even the score at 27-27.
 
Sophomore James Contreras Jr. hit a jumper as the buzzer sounded on the first half to give the Cougars a 29-27 edge heading into the break.
 
Averett earned the No. 8 seed in the upcoming USA South Conference Tournament, which begins on Thursday. The Cougars will play at No. 1 seed N.C. Wesleyan College in Thursday's quarterfinal match at 7:00 p.m., in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.