Furman used a 22-3 run near the end of the first half to take control, but had to weather several High Point charges to hold off the Panthers, 98-87, Saturday afternoon at Greenville's Timmons Arena.

The Panthers (5-4) saw their four-game winning streak snapped, while Furman improved to 5-4 on the season.

Maleye Ndoye led all scorers with 27 points, while Robby Bostian contributed 21 points for the Paladins. Jerry Echenique scored a career-high 21 points for the Panthers, who got 20 points from Zione White and 19 points from Danny Gathings.

The Paladins scored the game's first seven points and then jumped ahead to a 21-11 advantage on a layup by Bostain at the 11:52 mark of the opening half. But HPU stole the ball on each of Furman's next three possessions and began an 11-0 run which put the Panthers ahead 22-21 on an Echenique layup with 9:19 to play before halftime. The teams traded baskets and were knotted at 26-26 with 6:38 left in the half before the Paladins put the clamps down and held HPU scoreless for the next four minutes.

In that span, Furman scored 15 consecutive points to grab a 41-26 advantage. White broke the dry spell for the Panthers when he nailed a jumper at the 2:36 mark. All told, the Paladins scored 20 of 22 points in a span of four and a half minutes, and led by 20 points on two occasions in the first half, the last at 51-31 before White buried a 25-foot three-pointer in the waning seconds to cut the Paladins' advantage to 51-34 at intermission.

The Panthers responded to White's buzzer-beater with a 13-0 run out of the break and surged within 51-47 on a White runner with 16:59 left. But the Paladins heated up from behind the arc (they made 11 three-pointers) and kept HPU at bay behind the outside shooting of Ndoye and Eric Webb (13 points).

HPU was within six points on numerous occasions in the second half, that last at 86-80 with 1:38 to play following a layup by Jeff Allen. But the Paladins went 12-of-12 from the line the rest of the way to hold on for the win.

Echenique was a near-perfect 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. Gathings tallied five steals and White notched four for HPU, which collected 17 steals altogether.

It was the first meeting ever between the schools. High Point is now 2-1 this season against Southern Conference opponents following wins at Western Carolina and UNC Greensboro.

HPU returns to action on Dec. 27 at home against North Carolina A&T in the Millis Center (7:00 pm). To read the game notes, click on the "Game Notes" link below this story.