DANVILLE, Va. E Shenandoah University staged a furious late game comeback Sunday afternoon, but it was too little, too late as USA South Conference co-leader Averett University held on for a 60-57 menís basketball victory at the Grant Center.

Shenandoah (7-15, 1-9 USA South) trailed by as many as 10 points in the final five minutes against the Cougars (17-6, 8-3), but rallied to trail by just two in the final seconds.

Following that Lenzie Adams layup to cut it to 59-57 with 2.9 seconds remaining, SU immediately fouled Averettís Cory McDaniel. McDaniel made one of two free throws to keep the Hornets hopes alive, but Ryan Frazier stole the Shenandoah outlet pass as time expired to preserve the victory.

Junior Jeremiah Lawrence provided a bright spot for the visitors early in the second half when he scored his 1000th career point. Lawrence becomes the 14th member of the SU menís basketball 1000-point club, and he is the third Shenandoah basketball player this season (after womenís seniors Alicia Sanders and Dee Fisher) to crack the 1000-point barrier.

Lawrence is also on pace for 1000 career rebounds and should reach that goal in approximately the 20th game of the 2007-08 regular season.

Leading 27-25 at the break, the Cougars expanded on that advantage with a 17-7 run to start the second. The final bucket of this run, a Shaun Hagwood three-pointer, gave the hosts a 44-32 lead with 14:02 remaining and would be its largest lead of the contest.

Shenandoah cut it to three points on three different occasions, but could get no closer than the two-point gap in the waning seconds.

Senior Moutkar Fawehinmi had a team-high 14 points with Lawrence and Adams both adding 12. Lawrence also had a team-best 10 rebounds to post his school record 11th double-double of the year.

Hagwood had 19 points and Jonathan Rumley nine points with seven assists for the victors.

Box Score 

Shenandoah is back in action Friday night against Greensboro College in the first of two weekend conference home contests. Game time is 7:30.