DANVILLE, Va. — In its final home game of the regular season, the Averett University men's basketball team came away with an 81-71 victory over Berea College on Saturday at the Grant Center.

It was Senior Day for Averett (8-17, 8-9 USA South), as seniors Jalen Burnett and T.J. McAllister played the final regular season home game of their collegiate careers. Burnett finished with eight points, six rebounds and three assists in his first game back from injury while McAllister logged two points a team-high four assists.

Offensive rebounding was huge for the Cougars in this one, as they grabbed 20 offensive boards that led to 23 second chance points, while Berea (11-14, 6-12 USA South) notched just four second chance points.

Averett got things started quickly as it jumped out to a commanding 20-10 lead with 11:57 left in the first half. However, Berea answered with a 14-4 run to tie the game at 24, before taking its first lead of the game at 29-28 with 6:01 remaining in the first. There were six more lead changes from there as the Mountaineers went into the halftime with a 42-40 lead over the Cougars.

The second half picked up right where the first ended as it remained tightly contested. Berea held the lead early on until Averett took the lead off a layup from junior Vince Contreras, the start of a 14-3 run that gave the Cougars a 69-58 lead with 6:06 remaining in the game. Averett didn't surrender the lead from there, as the Mountaineers never got closer than six points as the Cougars closed out the victory.

For Averett, sophomore Montre' Cash's hot scoring streak continued, as he led the team 20 points and four steals while shooting 8-16 from the floor. Junior Moriba Diaby also had one of his best games in an Averett uniform, logging a double-double with a career-high 17 points on 8-9 shooting with 10 rebounds. Junior Tim Henry joined them in double figures with 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Cougars now await seeding and placement in the USA South Conference Tournament, as they will either be a No. 3 or No. 4 seed from the East Division. We will have updates as soon as these are announced.