Danville, Va. - North Carolina Wesleyan's men's basketball team held on for a hard-fought 77-73 USA South victory at Averett University on Saturday. The Cougars erased double-digits deficits in both halves and actually held a late lead before Bishop senior Domarius Thomas scored four of his team-high 19 points in the final 30 seconds to secure Wesleyan's first conference win of the season.
The Bishops led by as many as 11 in the first half after opening the game with a 16-5 run. The Cougars rallied to eventually take their first lead at 31-29 with 5:26 remaining in the period. A big trey by sophomore Josh Morrison put Wesleyan back on top, and the two squads would twice more trade leads before the Bishops took a slim 39-37 advantage into intermission.
The second half was much like the first with Wesleyan going up double-digits midway through the period. Down 62-47, the Cougars put together an 18-2 run that spanned seven minutes and gave them a 67-66 lead with 3:31 remaining.
AU would lead 71-68 with under two minutes left before a lay-up by Thomas and a huge three-pointer by fellow senior Matt Dougherty put the Bishops back on top 73-71 at the 1:21 mark. The Cougars, however, had one more tie in them as Justin Pierce knotted the score at 73-73 on Averett's next possession.
Fortunately for Wesleyan, Thomas created another lay-up to take the lead with 30 ticks left, and an Averett turnover at the other end led to a Thomas dunk to seal the game for the Bishops.
Thomas was complimented by Dougherty's 19 points and team-high eight rebounds, while Alex Murray joined them in double-figures with 12 points and six boards. For Averett (6-10, 1-3 USA South), Pierce poured in a game-high 27 points.
As a team, the Bishops shot 48 percent from the floor compared to the Cougars' 43.5 percent accuracy.
Wesleyan (7-8, 1-2 USA South) continues conference play next Saturday at home versus Methodist University. Tip-off is slated for 4:00pm in Everett Gymnasium.