Danny Gathings led all scorers with 23 points and added 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the year as High Point cruised past VMI, 78-57, Wednesday night in Big South Conference men's basketball action at the Millis Center.
The Panthers improve to 11-5, and tied the school record for wins in a season since HPU joined the NCAA Division I ranks for the 1998-99 season. The victory also moves the Panthers into sole possession of first place in the Big South at 4-1.
VMI, in its first year in the Big South, falls to 3-11 (1-3 in the League).
Jorsua Chambers and Zione White contributed nine points apiece to a balanced High Point attack which saw seven players score at least six points.
Radee Skipworth tossed in a game-high 20 points for the Keydets, who also got 15 points from Matt Coward and 13 points from Matt Murrer.
High Point led wire-to-wire, but the Keydets came to play and hung with the Panthers for most of the first half. The Panthers broke open a 16-16 tie with a 12-2 run to grab a 28-18 advantage on a Gathings dunk. HPU's largest lead was its halftime advantage of 35-24.
Gathings hit a pair of free throws and White nailed a three-pointer in the opening minute of the second half to give the Panthers a 40-24 advantage. But VMI made a run and cut the HPU lead to 10 at 43-33 on a layup by Coward with 15:34 to play.
The Panthers then went to work and scored 13 of the next 16 points to open up a 56-36 advantage following a Gathings layup. VMI got within 12 on two more occasions, but never whittled the lead into single-digits the rest of the way.
HPU won the rebounding battle, 46-26. Jerry Echenique corralled eight boards and Patrick Hilliman grabbed five rebounds. White and Jeff Allen contributed four assists apiece.
Coward had seven assists and Richard Little notched five assists and four steals for the Keydets.
High Point stays at home Saturday night and tries to win its fourth-straight over Radford when the Panthers host the Highlanders (6-8, 2-2) at 7:00 pm in the Millis Center.
At halftime, 159 High Point student athletes and athletic training students were honored as Millis Scholar-Athletes. Click here to read the full story.
