Zione White tossed in 17 points to lead High Point to a 78-61 win over Mount St. Mary's Saturday night in the Millis Center.

Jerry Echenique added 15 points and eight rebounds and Mark Wilson had 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks in his first collegiate game for the Panthers (3-7), who snapped a three-game skid.

Danny Gathings added 12 points to move past Anthony Parrish (1978-82) for 20th on High Point's all-time scoring list. Gathings now has 1,059 points in a Panther uniform and 1,198 as a collegian. 

The Mountaineers saw their two-game winning streak broken and dropped to 3-4 on the season. Charles Cook led Mount St. Mary's with 13 points, while Landy Thompson and Antonio Johnson contributed 12 points apiece.

The teams combined to miss their first 13 shots from the field before Wilson (a transfer from North Texas who sat out the Panthers' first nine games due to NCAA transfer regulations) drained a trey at the 14:47 mark to give HPU a 5-2 advantage. But the Mountaineers used a jumper by Johnson and two free throws by Mychal Kearse to reclaim a 6-5 edge, and wouldn't trail again the rest of the half. Mount St. Mary's led by as many as six points en route to a 35-32 halftime lead.

The Panthers came out of the second-half gates on fire, outscoring the Mount 16-1 over the opening 5:21 of the final stanza to grab a 48-36 advantage. High Point made four of its first five shots from the field in the half while forcing the Mountaineers to miss nine of their first 10 shots in the same span. HPU used an old-fashioned three-point play from Wilson and a pair of foul shots by Echenique to build the 12-point cushion.

Mount St. Mary's was able to pull within seven points on four different occasions (the last at 60-53 on a Jason Carbone layup with 6:49 to play), but could get no closer. The Panthers shot 67 percent from the field after halftime (18-of-27) and 41 percent for the contest.

HPU held a 46-37 edge on the boards and limited the Mountaineers to 19 percent shooting from three-point range (5-of-27) and 31 percent overall (22-of-70).

Issa Konaré provided a game-high eight rebounds for HPU and also added three steals and four points. Titus Byrd chipped in eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

Chris Sumner added four points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals for Mount St. Mary's.

Both teams return to action Tuesday night at 7:00 pm EST. The Panthers visit Marshall in the opener of a two-game road trip, while Mount St. Mary's hosts Navy.

Photo by Greg Burrow