High Point opened 2004 and Big South Conference play with a hard-fought 80-66 win over Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon in Charleston.

The Panthers, who were led by Danny Gathings' fifth double-double of the season (19 points, 14 rebounds), won their seventh game in eight tries and improved to 8-4 (1-0 in Big South play). Charleston Southern fell to 3-9 (0-1).

HPU improved to 5-1 all-time in Big South openers, and has now surpassed its win total from all of last year (seven) with more than half of the regular season still to play.

Jerry Echenique notched 18 points for the victorious Panthers, while Zione White (11 points) and Javier Palacios (10 points) also scored in double-figures for HPU.

CSU got a team-high 16 points from Terrell Brown and 11 points from Trent Drafts. Ed O'Neil collected a whopping 13 assists for the Buccaneers in a back-and-forth game which featured nine lead changes before the Panthers eventually pulled away midway through the second half.

The lead changed hands six times before halftime. Brown scored 12 first-half points and gave the Bucs a 22-19 advantage on a three-pointer with 8:47 left in the opening frame.

But the Panthers powered ahead behind two late three-pointers by White to take a 34-30 edge to the locker room.

Trailing 40-38 early in the second half, Drafts nailed back-to-back three pointers to push the Bucs ahead, 41-40, with 15:24 to go. Echenique powered his way to a layup at the opposite end to help the Panthers grab the lead back -- this time for good -- at 42-41.

High Point effectively ended the drama with a 15-4 run that was capped off by a Palacios old-fashioned three-point play with 4:58 remaining that helped the Panthers surge ahead, 69-56. HPU led by as many as 17 points before the final 14-point margin.

The Panthers outrebounded the hosts, 41-34, and shot 50.8 percent from the floor (32-of-63) while holding CSU to 43.9 percent shooting (25-of-57).

Jorsua Chambers tallied a team-high four assists, while Gathings and White each grabbed three steals.

"We battled for 40 minutes, and that was the biggest thing," HPU head coach Bart Lundy said. "We could have let them back in the game, but every single guy on the floor made a positive contribution for us.

"They (CSU) were unbelievably prepared, and they came out and took it to us. And those kinds of teams are hard to beat, especially on their home floor. But I'm proud of our guys for picking up a great win on the road in our conference."

"It took a lot of effort but we got a good win on the road, so I'm happy," said Gathings, who shot 9-of-17 from the field. "We were able to adjust well to their zone, which gave us a lot of problems early, and pull the win out."

High Point journeys up the beach for a Monday night date at Coastal Carolina. Tipoff in Kimbel Arena is set for 7:00 pm.

"A lot of people said that we should be happy to get a split [of games] on this trip," Lundy said. "That's our motivation. We want two wins, not a split. If we can start that way it will really help us down the road in conference play."