Mario Williams drained a 16-foot jumper with 4.0 seconds left to lift Charleston Southern to a 76-74 win over High Point Saturday in a battle of Big South Conference unbeatens at the CSU Fieldhouse.

The Buccaneers won their fifth in a row and improved to 7-7 (4-0 in the Big South), while the Panthers had their five-game win streak stopped and dropped to 8-9 (3-1).

Four Panthers scored in double-figures, led by Danny Gathings' 15 points. Zione White (13 points), Patrick Hilliman (12 points) and Titus Byrd (11 points) also reached double-digits for HPU.

Hilliman, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Panthers' 92-73 win over UNC Asheville on Saturday, has scored in double-figures in back-to-back games for the first time in his High Point career.

Arizona Reid led the Panthers with five boards. Byrd and Landon Quick each had four assists for HPU, which led 34-23 at the half and by as many as 13 points in the final period.

The Panthers were without the services of starting center Jerry Echenique, who did not play due to back spasms.

Kurtis Rice paced the Bucs with 23 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Terrell Brown tossed in 17 points on 5-of-11 three-point shooting and Nathan Ball added 15 points and eight boards.

Williams, who had eight rebounds and three assists for CSU, was 0-for-6 from the field before his game-winning shot.

High Point scored the game's first nine points and led 9-0 following a three-pointer by White at the 16:44 mark before the Bucs came back with an 8-0 run which featured six points by Rice to keep things close. The Bucs led briefly in the first half at 12-11 and 15-4 before the Panthers used a 17-4 run which featured three-pointers by White, Akeem Scott and Byrd to build a 31-19 advantage with 2:07 remaining in the first half.

CSU closed within eight points before Gathings drained a trey just before the buzzer sounded to send the Panthers to the locker room with an 11-point lead.

A layup by Byrd in the opening seconds of the final stanza (which featured five ties and seven lead changes) gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the game at 36-23. But the Bucs (who shot 55 percent from the field in the second half) hung around and went on a 15-4 run to surge ahead 50-49 on a layup by Jovan Jegdic with 10:43 to play.

The lead changed hands on each of the next three possessions, including two free throws by Hilliman at the 9:46 mark which began a 5-0 spurt that closed with a three by Scott (eight points) to give the Panthers a 56-52 edge. But Charleston Southern got a trey from Brown and jumpers by Ball and Rice to jump back in front, 59-57, with 6:57 to go.

A three-pointer by White gave the Panthers back the lead and some momentum, which led to a 13-3 run to help HPU build a 70-62 cushion with 4:41 to play.

The Bucs refused to go away and got threes from Brown and Ball (just his second long-range shot of the year), plus a Ball free throw to pull within 72-70 at the 1:53 mark. Brown then stole the ball and laid it up to pull CSU even at 72-72 with 1:18 to go.

After a traveling call on the other end, Rice drew a foul and converted a pair of foul shots to give the Bucs a 74-72 lead with 39.0 seconds to play. Gathings brought the Panthers even at 74-74 by nailing a pair of free throws with 23.0 seconds left.

CSU called timeout with 18.4 seconds left to set up the final play, on which Rice found Williams in the corner for the game-winner. On the ensuing long-ball throw in, Williams stepped in front of the pass but came down out-of-bounds, giving the Panthers the ball just past midcourt with 3.3 seconds left. Mark Wilson (five points, four rebounds, a team-high three steals) took the pass and had an open 17-footer to tie, but his shot bounced off the back rim and the Buccaneers celebrated.

Rice, the two-time defending Big South Player of the Week, scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half and missed just one shot the entire game (7-of-8 from the field, 8-of-8 from the free-throw line).

High Point out-shot the Bucs from both the field (48 percent to 47 percent) and behind the three-point line (47 percent to 39 percent). but CSU held a 38-27 edge on the glass and committed two fewer turnovers (20-18).

The Panthers stay on the South Carolina coast for a Monday date at Coastal Carolina (5-11, 2-2 Big South). Tip-off at Kimbel Arena in Conway is set for 7:00 pm.