Oliver Holmes' putback of an Alex Kragel three-point attempt with less than a second to play gave the Bulldogs a thrilling and heartbreaking 78-76 win over HPU Wednesday night at the Justice Center.

The Panthers (6-14, 2-7 Big South) are no strangers to close defeats, having dropped six games by four points or less, but Wednesday's loss was the first to come on a buzzer-beater.

UNCA improves to 6-2 in the Big South, 9-11 overall, and won its fourth straight.

Joe Knight scored a game-high 26 points for the Panthers and tied a career-high with seven three-pointers. Danny Gathings added 17 points and eight rebounds, while Dustin Van Weerdhuizen chipped in 15 points.

Kragel led UNCA with 16 points. Joseph Barber had a career-high 14 points, while Chad Mohn pumped in a career-best 13 points. Mohn was 6-of-8 from the field. He scored 11 points in the first half.

The Panthers led 73-68 with two minutes left when Kragel made a steal off a High Point pass and sent the ball to Andre Smith, who nailed a trey to cut the lead to 73-71. After a Panther miss, Smith scored on a layup in the lane to tie the game at 73-73 with 1:30 remaining.

Ron Barrow hit a free throw to put High Point back in front, 74-73 at the 51-second mark. UNCA then took the lead on a Kragel three-pointer with 30 seconds left at 76-74.

Gathings was fouled with 16 seconds left and made the first free throw to cut the lead to 76-75. He missed the second free throw but Van Weerdhuizen got the long rebound. Knight then drove and was fouled with 6.5 seconds left. The sophomore guard missed the first free throw but made the second knotting the game at 76-76.

UNCA quickly got the ball up court and Kragel forced up a long three-pointer that was well short, but Holmes got the rebound and tapped the ball into the bucket as the buzzer sounded giving Asheville the dramatic victory.

The Panthers visit Charleston Southern Saturday at 4:00 pm.