Behind a strong game from forward Seth Thomas, the Monarchs made it six straight victories with an impressive 67-52 victory over Averett. Methodist, 10-4 overall, is now in first place in the USA South at 3-0.
Thomas had the hot hand for the Monarchs with a game-high 21 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 shooting from 3-point range. He was one a few Methodist players that staked the Monarchs to an early lead and took the boisterous Grant Center crowd out of the game.
Leading 12-10 early, Methodist went on a 12-1 run over a four-minute span as Thomas scored twice and Robert Lee and Jonathan Jackson each nailed 3-point baskets. The Monarchs increased the lead twice to 18 points, the second time on Bryan Booth’s lay-up to make the Methodist lead 35-17 with 3:10 remaining.
Trailing by 14 points at halftime, Averett stormed out for some needed momentum early. Billy Gardner’s lay-up trimmed the Methodist lead to 40-32 with 15:27 remaining. However, Methodist halted the rally and responded with a 9-0 run over the next four minutes as Thomas scored seven of the points.
The Cougars were able to cut the deficit to 10 points, including 54-44 with 5:51 remaining. That would be as close as Averett would get as Methodist secured the game with an 8-0 run to lead 62-44 with 3:55 remaining.
In addition to Thomas, Lee scored 11 points for Methodist, and Dragan Radmanovic scored 10 points off the bench. Forward Sam Porter added nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Defensively, Methodist forced 21 Averett turnovers and limited the Cougars to only 37 percent shooting from the field, 30 percent from 3-point range. The Monarchs also shot 78 percent from the free throw line.
Gardner scored 11 points for Averett (5-7, 2-1), while Sterling Williams scored 10 points. The Cougars’ leading scorer coming into the game, Williams was held to 2-for-12 shooting from the field.
Methodist plays at Chowan on Saturday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference showdown.