DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University men's basketball held off a late Maryville College comeback for an 87-80 victory in Saturday's regular season finale at the Grant Center. With the win, Averett earned a share of the USA South Conference regular season title, along with the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament which the Cougars will also host.

Averett (11-14, 9-5 USA South) finished off the Scots by knocking down nine of their 10 free throw attempts over the final two and a half minutes while holding Maryville (19-6, 9-5 USA South) to only one field goal over the final 5:01 of play.

The Cougars led by as much as 10 points early in the second half. Maryville (19-6, 9-5 USA South) managed to erase that deficit during a five-minute stretch to tie the game at 59-59. With five minutes to play, the Scots jumped in front 72-69 on Dante Hoppa's 3-pointer. Yet, Averett answered with a 3-pointer of its own by freshman Jamal Forde.

Averett inched in front 76-72 with two pairs of made free throws, and junior James Contreras Jr. connected on a pair of driving layups on back-to-back possessions to push Averett's lead to 80-72. Although Maryville closed the gap to 84-80 on Calvin Congster's 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining, Contreras added three more made free throws to seal Averett's second regular season championship in three years.

Third-year Averett head coach David Doino said the Cougars struggled with finishing off teams earlier in the season, so he felt his team benefitted from facing those circumstances prior to Saturday.

"We just had to stay with it," Doino said. "There was a stretch there offensively where we struggled and they came back and took the lead. But I truly believe games early this year helped us in that situation. Earlier this year, we were in those types of games and didn't know quite how to finish them. Hopefully that helped us prepare for moments like this. We were able to execute down the stretch, take care of the basketball and make our free throws."

Contreras, who carried the Cougars down the stretch, finished with a career-high 28 points.

Senior Charles Bryant celebrated Senior Day with a double-double, grabbing a team-high 13 rebounds while scoring 10 points. Sophomore T.J. McAllister also came up big in the second half, scoring 11 of his 13 points after the break.

Much was at stake Saturday as Averett and Maryville were battling for the right to be the No. 1 seed in the USA South Tournament. The top seed earns the right to host. Averett, Maryville and Methodist University each finished the regular season with a 9-5 mark in the conference, and LaGrange College could also finish 9-5 with a win Sunday. However, Averett held the tie-breaker after topping Maryville on Saturday. Maryville would have won the conference outright had it defeated Averett.

Averett, which was picked eighth in the USA South preseason poll, started the season 2-10 with a tough non-conference slate, but early tests proved to be a great learning experience for the Cougars, according to Doino. Overcoming that slow start to earn the conference's top seed was a testament to the team, he said.

"The mental toughness that they showed is one of the most proud things I've ever been a part of as a coach," Doino said. "There were moments where they could have questions what we were doing. We were 2-10 and there weren't a lot of bright spots in what was going on, but they kept coming to work and they kept believing in what we were telling them and believing in each other."

The USA South seeding and tournament schedule will be announced on Sunday.