COAST TO COAST: Cougars lead every minute in winning inaugural Averett Classic

By Jason Wolf

Published: November 24, 2008

Jonathan Rumley kept his composure after missing consecutive foul shots in the final minute of play.

Instead of hanging his head, the Averett senior guard snagged the offensive rebound, was fouled again and made good on both ends of his second chance at the line.

Those two points put an end to Newport News Apprentice’s six-point run and helped propel Averett to an 89-80 victory against the previously undefeated Builders in the finale of the inaugural Texas Steakhouse Averett Classic on Sunday night at the Grant Center in Danville.

“That ended the game,” Averett coach Jimmy Allen said.

Justin Parker and Kenny Hart led five Averett (3-1) players into double-digit scoring with 18 and 16 points, respectively, and earned all-tournament team honors in the process.

Apprentice (4-1), missing the services of senior point guard Eric Ruffin because of “personal reasons,” Builders coach Bill Tose said, received a game-high 22 points from junior forward Eric Joe, who made the all-tournament team by averaging 20 points per game.

Greensboro picked up its first win of the season by defeating Piedmont 66-64 in the day’s earlier contest. Greensboro (1-4) senior forward Michael Mitchell and Piedmont (0-2) junior guard Sam Coppage were also named to the all-tournament team.

Averett, which didn’t have a single player in double figures at the half against Apprentice, took a 49-37 lead into intermission thanks to tremendously balanced point production.

Rumley finished with 14 points, six rebounds and a team-high eight assists for Averett. Ryan Frazier added 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Rakeem Davis had 11 points.

The Cougars never trailed throughout the course of the tournament. They led by as much as 14 points against Apprentice and withstood several second-half rallies by the Builders, who closed to within three points with about seven minutes remaining but inched no closer.

“Right then, when we closed (to 71-68), we didn’t have a point guard on the floor,” Tose said. “At that point we needed some direction and so what happened was everybody on the floor felt like they knew what needed to be done and it wasn’t the same thing. The point guard settles that stuff down.

“We did what we had to do defensively to get back in it, but we couldn’t make that transition to offense because we didn’t have the right leadership there.”

Averett connected on 50 percent of its shots in the second half, compared to 36.8 percent shooting by the Builders.

Apprentice took its last good run at the Cougars by slashing a 12-point Averett lead in half with about a minute remaining. Rumley helped seal the victory, however, by nabbing the offensive rebound after his pair of missed free throws and draining both of his second-chance shots from the line for an 87-79 lead with 40 seconds remaining.

“I lost focus a little bit,” Rumley said, “but I’m glad we got an opportunity at a second chance. I’m glad we kept our composure and I’m glad I got to step up and get two more.”