DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University men's basketball held No. 1 Christopher Newport University to a season-low in points, but the Captains outlasted the Cougars 71-54 in non-conference action Saturday afternoon in the Grant Center.
Averett (5-3) kept the top-ranked Captains in check for most of the game, but it couldn't quite whittle down CNU's margin of lead. Down 12 at halftime, the Cougars got within nine points seven times in the second half. Junior
Jason Sellars II got a layup with just under four minutes to play to close Averett's deficit to 62-53 against Christopher Newport (8-0).
From there, Averett's offense cooled off as CNU finished the game on a 9-1 run to pull away. The final 17-point margin was the Captains' largest lead of the game.
The Cougars battled CNU tightly throughout the first half and led 9-6 with 13:06 to play in the opening period. The Captains slowly inched ahead and finished the period with a 5-0 run to go a 29-17 lead into halftime.
CNU, which was shooting better than 48 percent for the season, was limited to just 31 percent shooting from the floor in the opening half as Averett's defense clamped down to hold CNU to its lowest point total in a first half this season. The Captains ended up shooting 46.4 percent for the game as Averett held CNU to a season-low 71 points.
Junior
Jordan Lewis led Averett with 16 points, but battled foul trouble throughout the game. Sellars added 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks and senior
Raja Milton chipped in 10 points. The Cougars also got nine points and four steals from sophomore
Caleb Coleman and seven boards from senior
Bryson McLaughlin.
Despite CNU's size advantage, Averett was only outrebounded 40-36 for the game.
The Captains, who earned their first ever No. 1 ranking earlier in the week in the D3hoops.com Top 25, were led by Jahn Hines' 24 points and four CNU players scored in double figures. Trey Barber also had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cougars travel to Virginia Wesleyan University, which is receiving votes in the most recent D3hoops.com poll, for a conference game on Wednesday.
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