The Big South Conference's top two scoring squads lived up to their reputation on Thursday night as High Point earned its third consecutive league victory with a 100-90 win at VMI.
The Panthers improve to 10-4 on the year (3-1 in Big South play) with the win and have now matched the program's best start in its Division I history. The loss drops VMI to 6-8 overall and 1-2 in league play.
High Point reached the 100-point mark for the third time this year behind 26 points from sophomore Arizona Reid. Reid posted his sixth double-double of the season by also hauling down a team best 15 rebounds.
All 10 HPU players who appeared in the game scratched the scoring column with Akeem Scott and Melvin Crowder both reaching double-digits with 15 points each. For Crowder it marked the second straight game in which the freshman has posted a career best scoring performance. Scott tallied a personal best seven assists to pace the Panthers.
For VMI, a trio of players recorded career bests including a 34-point performance from sophomore Reggie Williams. Matt Murrer finished with 23 points and Travis Holmes had 19 in the loss for the Keydets.
The high-scoring track meet included 54 combined turnovers, 30 by VMI and 24 for HPU, and featured 55 called fouls and 76 free throw attempts. High Point finished 27 of 37 from the charity stripe while VMI went 26 of 39 from the line.
HPU also enjoyed season best performance from long range connecting on 11 three-pointers against the Big South's top team defending the trey. Six different players made a three-pointer with Crowder's three triples leading the way. The Panthers held VMI to just 2 of 16 shooting from beyond the arc.
"I am glad to get out of here with a win," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "This game got really sloppy and it looked like we were starting to let it slip away. I am proud that we finished strong and earned the victory. I thought we shot the ball extremely well in the first half and that really went a long way towards this win. This is a big win for our young team in a very difficult place to play."
The Panthers used a barrage of three-point baskets in the opening half to exploit VMI's zone defense. The Panthers connected on eight shots from long distance in the opening stanza surpassing any previous game total for treys. Crowder capped the first half shooting performance draining a near half-court shot at the buzzer giving HPU a 55-40 lead at the break.
High Point kept things rolling to start the second half taking a 28-point lead, 74-46, following a 14-0 run just five minutes into play. At that point, VMI began to slowly chip away at the HPU lead cutting the deficit in half with eight minutes remaining. The Keydets eventually closed the gap to just six points, 94-88, with under a minute to play but Scott made four free throws and Reid got a put-back in the closing seconds to secure the win.
High Point will take almost a week off from competition before making a return trip to Virginia to face Big South foe Radford on Wednesday, Jan. 18.
