DANVILLE, Va. - Averett University got a pair of free throws from senior Sterling Williams with three seconds remaining and outlasted visiting Shenandoah 51-49 in USA South Conference men's basketball action Sunday afternoon.

With the score tied at 49-49 after Shenandoah's Chris Jenkins hit a layup with six seconds left, Williams was fouled by Jenkins at midcourt as the Cougars raced back up the court.

Williams, who was 0 for 4 from the line for the game to this point, calmly sandwiched a pair of free throws around an SU timeout to give AU (11-11, 6-5 USA South) the victory.

The Hornets (13-10, 5-5 USA South) got a buzzer beating shot off by Jenkins, but his just over half-court attempt went off the shot clock as time expired.

The Averett victory snaps a seven-game Shenandoah winning streak in the series between the two schools. This was the Hornets longest winning streak over a fellow USA South Conference institution.

Averett got the victory by holding its visitors to just three points in the final 7:54 of the contest. After SU took a 44-34 lead on a Patrick Millerlayup, the Cougars preceded to score the next 13 points of the game to take a 47-44 lead with 3:02 remaining.

Jeremiah Lawrence finally stopped the bleeding with a jumper in the lane with 2:01 left, but the damage was already done. Shenandoah had a pair of good looks in the final 30 seconds, but a Jared Hale three-point attempt and a Kenny Purnell deuce both failed to find the mark.

Jenkins grabbed the Purnell miss and converted the layup, but Williams was able to make his shots when it counted.

Andrew Boor led Averett with 15 points while Lawrence had 13 and Purnell 10 for the Hornets.

Box Score/Play by Play 

Shenandoah is off until completing USA South regular season play next weekend with home games against Greensboro and Methodist.