DANVILLE, Va. -- Rae Hall scored 20 points and Jackson Whitley recorded his sixth double-double of the season, but the Methodist men's basketball team saw its six-game win streak halted by Averett, 85-79, on Monday evening at the Grant Center.
 
Hall led five Monarchs (7-6, 1-1 USA South) in double figures, hitting on 6 of 12 shots from the line and 6 of 8 free throws. Whitley added 13 points and 16 rebounds, while Davion Ayabarreno scored 15 points. Bryan Rouse and Blake Davis scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. MU received only nine points from its bench on the evening.
 
Averett (3-10, 1-1) was led by Charles Bryant's 27 points on 12 of 19 shooting. He alos pulled down a team-best 11 boards. James Contreras Jr. scored 18, and Darin Ketner and Jalen Burnett added 13 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench.
 
The Cougars shot 50.7 percent (34-67) from the floor to 40.3 percent (27-67) for the Monarchs and outrebounded the Green and Gold 46-34.
 
In the first half, Whitley gave MU a 6-2 lead before Averett used a 12-0 run over 2:32 to assume a 14-6 lead on Ketner's three at the 15:33 mark. A three-pointer by Hall capped a 10-2 run by MU and tied the game at 16-16 roughly four minutes later.
 
Each team continued to make runs at one another as a 12-2 burst by Averett helped the home team regain the lead at 28-18 with under 10 minutes to play in the opening half. The Monarchs had one more first-half charge left in them as a 14-5 stretch pulled MU within one at 33-32 with just over a minute and a half to play before Averett took a 41-34 lead into the break.
 
The Monarchs scored the first points of the second half to make it a five-point game but would get no closer in the second half as the Cougars managed to keep Methodist at bay.
 
The Monarchs will look to return to their winning ways on Friday when they host Covenant at 7:30 pm.