The Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball team was unable to complete the second half comeback against Averett University as the Royals fell to the Cougars 83-76 Saturday afternoon in Danville, Va.

Averett stands at an even 6-6 record overall while EMU falls to 3-4 on the season.

"It was like a repeat of the Bridgewater game down the stretch," commented EMU head coach Kirby Dean following the loss. "Inside of the last five minutes we were right there with them but just couldn't get that last stop on defense to go ahead."

The Royals also showed some rust following their first game back from Christmas break as the visiting team shot 36 percent from the floor with senior Brad Parkes (Winchester, Va./James Wood) pacing the squad with six points. Senior center Corey Bailey (Centreville, Va./Brentsville District) was strong on the glass for EMU with four boards in the half.

The home team also struggled from the field as the Cougars also shot just 36 percent from the floor, but held an eight-point advantage over EMU thanks to a late charge on offense and two Royal turnovers. Jonathan Rumley led AU with seven points and three assists in the half.

The Royals found themselves down by nine with 9:37 left on the clock in the second half before junior LeRoger Parrish (Danville, Va./Tunstall) hit a tough trey to knock the Cougar lead down to six. Averett responded and again the Royals got another huge three-pointer this time from freshman D.J. Hinson (Newport News, Va./Menchville) to stay close.

Parkes followed up a missed three-pointer by Averett to lay in a basket in the Royals next posession with freshman Todd Phillips (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) repeating the performance with a layup of his own as EMU pushed the margin to only two points (60-58, Averett) with 7:20 on the clock.

Parkes led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds. Freshman Jason Rutschman (Troutville, Va./Lord Botetourt) had 13 points and three assists off the bench for EMU.

"Rutschman has really stepped up the past two games for us and he has continued to take what he is doing in practice and bring it into the game," explained Dean.

The visiting Roayls cut the lead to one point before the Cougars fought back and increased their lead back to eight points. Averett held an 11 point advantage within the games final minute with EMU able to cut it down to six on a Jered Lyons (Takoma Park, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) three-pointer before time expired.

Rumley had 16 points for the Cougars with Cory McDaniel (15 points) and Rob Wyley (10 points) also reaching double figures.

EMU will look to rebound next week as the Royals host Washington & Lee on Wednesday, January 9, at 7 p.m. in Yoder Arena.