ATLANTA, Ga. — Averett University men's basketball gave No. 12 Emory University all it could handle, but the Cougars' bid for an upset ended in a heartbreaking 65-60 loss Friday night in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

Averett (17-12) clawed back and pulled within 61-60 on junior Jalen Rowell's 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining in a bid to upset host Emory (20-5). Out of a timeout, the Eagles used a screen at the top of the key to set up a driving layup to extend their lead to 63-60 with 47 seconds to play. Averett's highly contested layup at the other end didn't fall, and the Cougars fouled with 11.7 seconds to go. Emory knocked down both foul shots to escape.

Emory advanced to face No. 15 Wabash College in Saturday's NCAA Round of 32. Wabash pulled away from No. 21 Berry College 91-79 in the opening game of Friday's NCAA First Round action hosted by Emory.

Few outside of the Averett community believed the Cougars had the ability to compete with the nationally ranked Eagles. Even during the NCAA's selection show, Averett was barely discussed. Yet, the Cougars proved they belonged Friday night on the biggest stage.

"I'm really proud of our guys," Averett head coach David Doino said. "Tremendous effort. Tremendous heart. We didn't stop at any point. There were a couple of times [Emory's lead] got to seven or eight, and I thought at home in the tournament, that's usually the time that home teams make a run. And our guys just never stopped fighting. For that, I'm extremely proud. This is going to hurt for a little bit right here because we had opportunities. I thought just down the stretch we maybe didn't make the right play. But hats off to Emory. They executed really well. They stuck to it and made some plays when they really needed to. They made one or two extra plays that we couldn't make."

The Cougars garnered the respect from Emory head coach Jason Zimmerman, who noticed Averett's team chemistry while looking at film from the Cougars' conference tournament games.

"Their spirit and their connectedness and their toughness, it came through on film," Zimmerman said. "And that's hard to do sometimes. So we knew we were in for a fight tonight."

Averett opened with an early 8-5 lead before Emory inched ahead by five midway through the half after the Cougars' offense was held scoreless for more than four minutes. Averett, however, didn't back down. After staying within striking distance, junior Corey Baldwin's reverse layup got Averett back within two. The Cougars got a stop at the other end and were able to hold for the last shot. Averett got a kick-out pass to Rowell on the wing, and he knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer as time expired to put Averett ahead 26-25 at halftime.

In the first 20 minutes of play, both teams shot nearly identical percentages, but it was Averett's defense holding Emory to 0-for-13 from beyond the arc that helped the Cougars keep the Eagles' offense at bay.

In the second half, both teams traded leads, staying within a possession of each other until Emory hit its first 3-pointer of the game to go up 42-38 with 12:37 remaining. Prior to that, the Eagles had been 0-for-19 from 3-point range. Emory extended its lead to six a few minutes later. Although the Cougars stayed on the Eagles' heels, the Emory lead grew to as many as eight points, 61-53, with 3:44 to play.

Averett continued to battle, responding with a 7-0 run over the next two-plus minutes that culminated with Rowell's 3-pointer to get the Cougars within 61-60 with just over a minute remaining.

"Our guys were just fighting and scrapping, but that's been our year all long if you look how we started," Doino said. "We were 2-8 and nobody expects anything from us. But it just shows what type of character and what kind of people we have in our program."

Although the Cougars' magical run ended, there is much to be proud of this season. After facing adversity early on, Averett won the USA South Conference East Division regular season and then capped it off with the USA South Tournament championship to clinch the program's fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"What's what I told our guys in the locker room at the end," Doino said. "If our culture can stay and grow from this, I'm really happy with the direction our program is going."

Rowell led Averett with a team-high 14 points, while sophomore Jason Sellars II added 13 points. Baldwin finished with nine points and seven rebounds, and junior Bryson McLaughlin also had nine points.

Emory's Matthew Schner led all scorers with 27 points to go with nine rebounds. Nick Stuck and Max Fried had 12 points and 11 points, respectively. Cale Martens had a team-high 16 rebounds as the much taller Eagles' lineup outrebounded the Cougars 47-35.
 
 

 




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