DANVILLE, Va. — Top-seeded Averett University men's basketball couldn't overcome a cold shooting night as the Cougars' season ended with a 94-81 loss to No. 5 seed LaGrange College in Friday's USA South Conference Tournament semifinals at the Grant Center.

Down five at halftime, Averett (12-15) made a brief run to take a 44-43 lead early in the second half on sophomore Jalen Burnett's three-point play. Yet, LaGrange (17-10) quickly went back ahead at the other end on Justyn Olson's 3-pointer. It was the start of a 12-0 run by the Panthers that helped them seize the momentum.

Averett, however, didn't go away. Energized by the crowd on defense, the Cougars continued to try to claw back into it, getting within 62-57 on senior Charles Bryant's steal and fast-break layup with 9:08 to play.  LaGrange was able to fend off Averett the rest of the way, pushing its lead back to double digits for most of the final seven minutes of the game.

LaGrange shot 55.9 percent (33-for-59) from the floor and outrebounded the Cougars 43-40. Averett, meanwhile, struggled offensively. The Cougars shot 36.4 percent (28-77) and were only 17.4 percent from 3-point range.

"It was just one of those nights," said Averett third-year head coach David Doino, who was named the 2017 USA South Coach of the Year. "I thought the effort and energy was there. Our execution against their zone wasn't great, but we were able to get looks and weren't able to finish. We had a lot of offensive rebounds and we missed a lot of layups off of those, too. It was just one of those nights where the ball didn't want to go down. I thought at times it affected our defense."

Burnett scored 14 of his career-high 24 points to keep Averett close in the first half as the Cougars started slow out of the gates. LaGrange went ahead 22-14 midway through the first period before sophomore Austin DeLucia book-ended a jumper with a pair of 3-pointers to erase the deficit and tie the game at 26-26 with 5:55 left in the half. LaGrange withstood the rally and took a 41-36 advantage into the locker room.

Bryant, the USA South Player of the Year, finished off his career with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds despite battling foul trouble. The senior, playing in his final collegiate game, earned a standing ovation from the home crowd after fouling out with 3:11 to play. Bryant ends his career as Averett's all-time rebounding leader with 882 boards and fifth all-time in scoring with 1,304 points.

"I told the guys after the game that Charles is everything they should aspire to be," Doino said. "I've coached national players of the year and preseason All-Americans, and there are none better than Charles Bryant. He's the toughest kid I've ever coached. His place in Averett basketball history says enough for himself. I'm so proud of him and what he did this year. Without him, we never would have had this opportunity."

Junior James Contreras Jr. added 17 points, and DeLucia finished with 11 points off the bench for Averett.

Despite the loss, Doino was proud of his team for overcoming a number of obstacles early in the season, including a 2-10 start. The Cougars rallied to earn a three-way share of the conference's regular season championship and snag the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

"The character, the heart, the belief that these guys have shown all year is something that they should have their heads held high when they leave the locker room. We just didn't have what we needed tonight to win. LaGrange is a really good basketball team.   

"Hopefully this is just a steppingstone of things to come for our program."

Olson's 23 points led LaGrange, which had three players score at least 20 points.

LaGrange advanced to its fourth consecutive conference title game and will play No. 2 seed Methodist University in Saturday's USA South championship at 3 p.m. at the Grant Center.