High Point scored the game's first 15 points and got 19 points and 13 rebounds from
Danny Gathings in an 85-64 win over Ferrum Tuesday night in the Millis Center.
HPU won its third straight contest and improves to 4-3 on the season, while Ferrum falls to 4-3.
Zione White (17 points),
Chris Meeks (12 points) and
Javier Palacios (11 points) also reached double-figures for HPU.
In a battle of Panthers, High Point jumped out to a 15-0 lead on baskets by six different players. Ferrum got on the board six minutes in on a three-pointer by
Chris Smith. HPU led by as many as 16 points at 23-7 before Ferrum cut the lead to eight on an 11-3 run to pull within 26-18 on a
Lance Everette trey at the 8:09 mark. But HPU came back behind the hot shooting of Meeks (all 12 points in the first half) and the muscle of
Jerry Echenique (11 first-half rebounds) to take a 45-29 lead to intermission.
The closest Ferrum (an NCAA Division III member of the USA South Conference) got the rest of the way was 10 points following a
Rob Fuller dunk at the 17:52 mark that pulled the visiting Panthers within 48-38. But HPU held Ferrum without a field goal for more than eight minutes midway through the second half and used an 18-5 run during that span to pull away. High Point pushed its lead to as many as 26 points on numerous occasions en route to the 21-point margin of victory.
High Point outrebounded Ferrum by a whopping 54-32 margin, and won the turnover battle (15-12) for the sixth time in seven games this year.
Gathings, the reigning Big South Player of the Week, now has three double-doubles in his last four contests, and added four steals as well.
Jeff Allen collected a game-high five assists for HPU.
Fuller led Ferrum with 18 points. Smith (12 points) and
Kevin Aigbe (11 points) also cracked the double-digit plateau.
HPU will try to win four straight for the first time since 1999 when the Panthers make the short trip across Guilford County to meet local rival UNC Greensboro Saturday night at Fleming Gym (7:00 pm). The Panthers downed the Spartans, 81-74, last season in High Point.
To read the HPU/UNCG game notes, click on the "Game Notes" link below this story.
