Landon Quick drove from baseline-to-baseline and scored on a running layup with 1.2 seconds left to lift High Point to a stunning, come-from-behind 76-75 win over VMI Wednesday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington.
The Panthers (17-10, 10-6 Big South) wiped out a 10-point deficit in the final three minutes to secure the win and the No. 2 seed in next week's Big South Tournament, where they'll host the Keydets (6-20, 4-11) in the first round.
The victory gives the Panthers home-court advantage through the first two rounds of the event, which sends its champion to the NCAA Tournament as the Big South's representative.
Quick scored a career-high 15 points and Danny Gathings tossed in a season-best 26 points for the victorious Panthers, who claimed their third one-point win in a row.
Jorsua Chambers (13 points) and Zione White (10 points) also reached double-figures for HPU.
Radee Skipworth led VMI with a 20-point, 13-rebound performance for his third double-double of the season, and was joined in double-digits by Matt Murrer (16 points), Fred Robinson (13 points) and Matt Coward (11 points).
High Point trailed 70-60 following a Richard Little jumper with 3:11 to play, but battled back to get within 71-67 on White's three-pointer with 1:02 left. After Spikworth broke free on the inbounds play and dunked at the other end to push the lead to six points, Brent Halsch drained a trey with 45.7 seconds left to pull HPU within 73-70.
Murrer drove for an open layup that would have made it a two-possession game, but Patrick Hilliman blocked his shot away shot with 33.0 seconds to go, and Gathings scored on a layup to pull within 73-72 with 25.4 seconds to play.
Little made a pair of foul shots with 20.5 seconds left to make it a three-point game (75-72) before Chambers scored on a driving layup with 13.4 seconds left to cut the lead to 75-74. The Panthers nearly came up with a steal on the inbounds before Coward was fouled by Hilliman with 9.0 seconds to go, but missed both free throws.
Gathings grabbed the rebound and flipped the ball to Quick, who drove coast-to-coast and laid it up off the glass with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Panthers the winning points. A desperation heave by Coward at the buzzer was well short, and the Panthers celebrated their school-record 10th Big South win of the season.
Gathings scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half on 10-of-11 shooting to give the Panthers a 41-38 advantage at intermission of a game that featured nine lead changes and five ties.
Chambers tallied a career-high eight assists and added three steals for the Panthers, who shot 58 percent from the floor. Little totaled a whopping 13 assists for the Keydets.
VMI travels to Birmingham-Southern on Saturday, while High Point rests on a bye weekend before their tournament meeting Tuesday at the Millis Center. The Panthers downed the Keydets, 78-57, in High Point on Jan. 14.
