High Point whittled a 14-point second-half deficit to three, but Winthrop answered every charge and held off the Panthers for a 74-66 win Saturday at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The Eagles, who had already clinched the Big South regular-season crown, won their 13th-straight game and improved to 22-5 (13-1 in Conference play). HPU dipped to 12-15 (7-7 in the Big South).

Titus Byrd led the Panthers with 17 points. Zione White scored 11 points, while Arizona Reid added 10 points.

James Shuler led all scorers with 25 points for the Eagles, who got 14 points from Torrell Martin.

Winthrop hit eight first-half three-pointers en route to a 39-27 halftime lead.

The Eagles raced out to an 11-2 lead after canning a pair of three-pointers in the first three minutes, and after the Panthers scored the next six points to get within 11-8, the Eagles went on a 7-0 run for an 18-8 cushion.

High Point clawed back behind the three-point shooting of Byrd (3-for-3 from behind the arc in the first half) and got within 23-20 after Akeem Scott stole the ball and laid it in at the 5:35 mark.

Martin nailed back-to-back threes in a span of 20 seconds and Shuler drained a trey of his own to give the Eagles a 32-20 edge with 3:12 left before halftime. Byrd kept the Panthers in it with consecutive threes of his own to get HPU within 34-26, but Winthrop matched its biggest lead of the game when Chris Gaynor connected from long-range as the buzzer sounded for a 39-27 halftime lead.

Winthrop's Phillip Williams scored the opening bucket of the second half to give the Eagles their biggest lead (41-27) before the Panthers began to chip away. A layup by Landon Quick capped a 5-0 Panther run to pull HPU within 49-44 with 13:05 left.

High Point got within 56-52 following back-to-back threes by White and Byrd with 9:20 to play, and another three by White cut the lead to three points at 60-57 with 7:37 to go. The Panthers had two chances to cut the deficit to one point or tie, but turned the ball over and then missed a jumper, and Winthrop eventually went back up nine at 71-62 with 1:49 to play.

The Panthers held a 35-27 edge on the boards. White pulled down a team-high five rebounds.

Senior forward Danny Gathings returned to action for the first time since Feb. 5 and collected seven points and four rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench.

Winthrop outshot the Panthers, 48 percent to 40 percent. Gaynor had seven assists, while Shuler tallied four assists and five steals.

The loss bumps HPU into fourth place in the Big South with two games to play, one game behind UNC Asheville and a half-game ahead of Charleston Southern for fifth. The top four teams in the League earn the right to host first-round home games in the 2005 Advance Auto Parts Big South Tournament Mar. 1-5, and higher seeds in each matchup will host semifinal and final contests.

The Panthers return home Wednesday against Radford (7:00 pm) before finishing the regular season next Saturday at VMI.