DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University men's basketball senior Charles Bryant turned in a lights out performance, scoring a career-high 27 points in the Cougars' 85-79 victory over Methodist University on Monday night at the Grant Center.
 
Bryant scored nine of Averett's first 11 points as the Cougars took an 11-6 lead on his 3-pointer at the 16:40 mark of the first half. Bryant put up 16 of his game high points in the first half to give Averett a seven-point advantage heading into the half. He sank seven of his 12 shots from the field and nailed a duo of 3-pointers to help pace the Cougars' attack in the first period.
 
With his performance, Bryant now sits in 11th place on Averett's all-time scoring list with 1,042 career points, putting him 46 points behind Marcus Tucker (1997-2001) for 10th place.
 
Averett (3-10, 1-1 USA South) turned in its most solid shooting performance of the year. The Cougars turned in an overall 50.7 shooting percentage from the field and shot 50 percent from beyond the arc to help pull away from Methodist (7-6, 0-1 USA South). Averett placed four players in double-digit scoring with Bryant's 27 leading the way. Junior James Contreras Jr. picked up 18 points on the night, while junior Darin Ketner chipped in with 13 and sophomore Jalen Burnett contributed 10.
 
The Cougars used efficient passing to work the ball inside the lanes for high percentage shots. Averett's approach paid off as the Cougars broke open a close game to take their biggest lead of the night when sophomore T.J. McAllister's jumper fell through the hoop to put Averett up 62-47. Methodist fought back, however, and closed its deficit to six on Davion Ayabarreno's 3-pointer with under eight minutes left in the game.
 
Averett's shooting hand stayed hot, though, as the Cougars were able to extend their lead to double-digits several more times, the last coming on freshman David Meador's tip-in with 3:49 remaining. The Monarchs caught fire from the free throw line late in the game but were only able to get within six when Rae Hall made both of his attempts from the charity stripe.
 
As its done all season, Averett hit the boards hard and outrebounded Methodist by a total of 46-34. Bryant led the way with 11 boards to record the double-double. Ketner tied his career-best in rebounds, pulling down eight, including five on the defensive end.
 
The Cougars will get a five-day break before hitting the road to take on LaGrange College at 2 p.m. in LaGrange, Georgia.