The Pride men’s basketball team continued their perfect run through the USA South with a 94-86 home win over Averett on Wednesday night. T.J. Holman poured home a game high 26 points as Greensboro improved to 12-4 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
The Pride started quick, jumping out to leads of 5-0, 14-4 and 18-6. The Cougars would not roll over, however, fighting their way back with an 11-0 run to cut the margin to 18-17 before taking their first lead at 21-20 with 9:05 to play in the half.
The Greensboro deficit grew to 30-20 as Averett continued on its 24-2 spurt. The Pride finished the half out strong, though, cutting the score to 40-37 heading into the break.
Greensboro wasted little time regaining the lead in the second half, going up 44-42 on a jumper by Luqman Tijani. While The Pride would lead the remainder of the way, they would not pull away without a fight.
Greensboro would slowly stretch the lead out to nine points at 79-70 with five minutes to go before the Cougars rallied again. A three-point basket by Jeremy Ruffin with 2:40 to go brought Averett to within a point at 80-79. Tijani responded for The Pride with two free throws and Chakiris Moss hammered home a big three on the following possession to extend the lead to 85-80 with 1:33 on the clock.
Greensboro would finish out the game converting 9-10 attempts from the charity stripe, including its last eight.
In addition to Holman’s 26 points, Damian Dixon had 16, Moss had 11 and Donald Anderson finished with 12. Brock Moorman also chipped in with eight points and nine rebounds. As a team, The Pride shot 40.9% from the field and made 28-35 free throw tries.
Greensboro will now turn its attention to an unbeaten USA South showdown with Christopher Newport. The game will tip-off at 4 p.m. at Hanes Gym.