Men's Basketball | 2/15/2014 7:20:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist men's basketball team used an 18-6 run early in the second half to knock off Averett, 79-70, on Saturday afternoon at the Riddle Center.
 
The Monarchs (8-14, 6-6 USA South) used the aforementioned run to turn a seven-point deficit (41-34) with 19:12 to play, into a 52-47 lead with 13:49 on the clock to earn a split of the regular-season series with the Cougars (11-11, 8-4 USA South).
 
The Cougars, who had carried a 37-34 lead into intermission, received four straight points from Trevor West to open the second half and take the aforementioned seven-point lead 48 seconds into the second half. Desmond Parker answered with a bucket in the paint for MU's first points of the second half and Chris Vinson followed with a layup in transition after Bradley Robinson missed a three for AU to make it a 41-38 ballgame. Tabias Hilliard cut MU's deficit to a pair at 41-39 when he split a pair of free throws, and after Averett went back up by four points, he once again made it a two-point game (45-43) when he converted a pair of free throws after a technical foul on Robinson. After Devontae Parnell reinstated AU's four-point edge (49-45) with a jump shot, the Monarchs drilled three consecutive shots from beyond the arc, including two from T.J. Gill, to assume a 52-47 edge with 13:49 to play.
 
Methodist pushed out to a 10-point lead (61-51) by the 10:15 mark, courtesy of a Hilliard triple, before Averett made one final push. Successive three-pointers by Robinson and Jacolby Hawkins pulled the Cougars to within four points (61-57) at the 7:15 mark, but the Monarchs promptly pushed their lead back to double digits (70-59) with a 9-2 run and held on down the stretch.
 
In the first half, Averett used a 10-0 spurt over a 3:47 span to turn a one-point deficit (28-27) into a nine-point lead (37-28) 1:40 before the half. Hawkins started the run with a pair of buckets and Robinson capped the burst with a jumper. However, the Monarchs got back-to-back three-pointers by Hilliard and Gill in the final minute to trim its deficit at the break to three points (37-34).
 
Averett, which shot a blistering 59.2 percent (16-27) in the first half, cooled to 41.2 percent (14-34) in the second period and finished at 49.2 percnet (30-61) for the game. Methodist shot 41.3 percent as a team (26-63), including 48.3 percent (14-29) in the final 20 minutes. The Monarchs made a season-high nine three-pointers (9-19) and also got to the free-throw line 25 times, making good on 18 attempts (.720). Averett, which only attempted eight free throws (4-8), outrebounded MU, 43-29, but committed 20 turnovers to just 10 for Methodist.
 
Gill led all scorers with a career-best 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from long distance. Hockaday added a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Hilliard had 17 points and six assists. Parker finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
West and Robinson each had 16 points to lead the Cougars, and Charles Bryant had nine points and nine rebounds. Paul Porter chipped in six points and eight rebounds.
 
Methodist will now take on William Peace on Tuesday at 7:30 pm in a makeup of a game originally slated to be played on Wednesday, but had was postponed due to inclement weather.