The slipper fits.

High Point continued its magical romp through Roanoke with a 72-70 overtime upset of No. 3-seeded Radford in the semifinals of the 2002 Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference men's basketball tournament Friday night.

The Panthers (11-18) will face three-time defending Big South champion Winthrop Saturday at 5:00 pm EST at the Roanoke Civic Center and in front of a national television audience on ESPN2 for the right to grab the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Jay Wallace scored a career-high 25 points, including seven straight in overtime, and Big South Rookie of the Year Joe Knight added 21, including a game-tying three-pointer with 10 seconds left in regulation to send the Panthers into Saturday's championship game.

High Point, which defeated second-seeded UNC Asheville in the first round, is the first No. 7-seed to reach the finals in tournament history.

It marks the first time that a High Point team has reached the conference finals in any sport.

Correy Watkins led Radford with 18 points, while Raymond Arrington added 17. Andrey Savtchenko scored 15 points and pulled down 16 boards for the Highlanders, who finish the season at 15-16 overall.

Radford led the contest, 31-25, at the half but High Point opened the second half with a 12-3 run to grab a 37-34 lead. Radford regained the lead at 40-37 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the game and led until the 2:18 mark when Wallace scored to put the Panthers up, 52-51.

The teams exchanged leads several times down the stretch and with 16.2 seconds remaining, Arrington put the Highlanders up by three at 59-56 with a pair of free throws. Knight took the inbounds and raced upcourt, pulling up and drilling the game-tying 20-footer.

Wallace's basket and free throw with 4:01 remaining in overtime gave the Panthers a 62-61 edge, a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. High Point kept the Highlanders at bay by hitting seven of nine free throws in the extra period.

For the box score, follow this link:
http://www.bigsouthsports.com/articles/artfiles/15401_BSTGAME6.HTM