Danny Gathings' off-balance 16-footer with 0.6 seconds left gave High Point a thrilling 66-64 win over Western Carolina Tuesday night at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee.
The victory was the first road win of the season for the Panthers (2-3), who led by 18 points midway through the second half, but came from behind at the end to win it.
"As soon as the ball came off the rim I was afraid that time was going to run out, so I just threw the ball up," Gathings said. "I got lucky and it went in."
Gathings scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half, including two critical free throws to pull the Panthers even at 64-64 with 1:00 to play. Seconds earlier, Kevin Martin had given the Catamounts (1-3) their first lead since the game's opening basket when he scored on a layup and added a free throw to give Western a short-lived two-point cushion.
HPU held a 51-33 advantage with 14:30 left and seemed to be in control before the Catamounts caught fire and put together a 19-3 run to pull within 54-52 on a fadeaway jumper by Alex Osipovitch with 6:27 to go.
But the Panthers regained their composure and scored six of the next seven points, including two driving layups by Gathings to grab a 60-53 advantage with 5:31 left. Following a layup by Martin (who entered as the nation's leading scorer at 30.0 points per game), Gathings gave the Panthers another seven-point pad at 62-55 with 4:12 to play.
Western refused to surrender and scored the next nine points of the game to surge ahead for the first time since the opening moments. Martin, who missed his first six shots from the field and was held without a field goal for the first 26 minutes of the contest, scored nine of the Catamounts' final 11 points. He hit a three with 1:51 left to pull Western within 62-61 before his three-point play gave the Cats the lead.
Following Gathings' free throws, the Panthers stole the ball from Martin as he drove the lane, and Zione White missed a 19-footer with five seconds left. Jerry Echenique tipped the loose ball to Gathings, who threw a shot up that banked off the glass and in.
HPU knocked away Western's desperation inbounds pass and celebrated.
"This is a huge win for us, with all we've been through this week," High Point head coach Bart Lundy said. "We could have wilted, but we held on at the end when a lot of things weren't going right -- and that's all that matters."
Gathings added 10 rebounds to record his second-straight double-double, and the 10th of his career. Echenique scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half for HPU.
Martin, who scored 44 points in a loss at Georgia earlier this year, was held to his lowest point total of the season (18 points). Osipovitch added 15 points for the Catamounts, who won the rebound battle by a 38-31 margin.
The meeting between the old North State/Carolinas Conference rivals was the first since 1970. High Point now leads the all-time series between the schools, 37-22.
The Panthers have one more game left on their five-game road trip (which included visits to Clemson, Michigan and Virginia last week). HPU visits Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 2:00 pm in Emmitsburg, Md.
