A sluggish High Point men's basketball struggled throughout a disappointing 74-58 loss to Birmingham-Southern on Monday night in the Millis Athletic Center.
High Point slipped to 10-7 overall and 3-4 in Big South Conference play after suffering its third consecutive loss and second straight home defeat. Birmingham-Southern improved to 13-5, 6-1 in league games after matching a program record for consecutive victories with their sixth in a row.
Senior Akeem Scott scored 13 points to lead a trio of High Point players in double figures. Sophomore Arizona Reid finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, coming up just shy of his fifth straight double-double while Mike Jefferson tallied 11 points including three treys on the night. Issa Konare, the Big South leader in blocked shots, recorded five swats in the game to up his season total to 45.
Birmingham-Southern's deliberate offense clicked on all cylinders as five players reached double digits led by 14 from Thomas Viglianco. Sredrick Powe, Ed Horton and James Collins all finished with 12 followed by 11 from Bucky McMillan. McMillan keyed the offense recording eight assists as BSC finished with 19 assists on their 28 baskets.
HPU never led in the game as the visiting Panthers grabbed an 8-1 lead just a minute and a half into the contest on five points from Viglianco and a three-pointer from Horton. High Point battled back and closed the gap to a single point twice including, 13-12, with 14:22 remaining on a lay-up by Reid.
However, Birmingham-Southern scored the next 12 points and HPU could get no closer than six before going in down eight, 39-31, at the break. BSC shot 58 percent (15 of 26) from the field in the opening half while High Point connected on just 10 of 24 attempts (42 percent).
"It was a disappointing loss for us tonight," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I thought that our strong finish on Saturday would give us a lift tonight, but unfortunately we played flat and unfocused most of the night. Against their disciplined and structured offense you can't afford to lose focus and that cost us several times tonight. Hopefully, we can regroup over the next few days and finish the first half of our conference schedule strong at UNC Asheville on Saturday and gain some momentum for the rest of league play. We still have a lot of games to play."
BSC kept things rolling in the second half maintaining a double-digit advantage for most of the frame. HPU's pressure defense was unable to disrupt Birmingham-Southern, who finished the game with just 10 turnovers. High Point shot just 38.5 percent from the floor for the game and struggled from the free throw line making just 9 of 16 attempts (56 percent). Birmingham-Southern finished at 53 percent from the floor. The two teams were even on the boards at 32 rebounds each.
High Point will now play four of its next five games on the road beginning Saturday at in-state rival UNC Asheville. HPU and UNCA will tip-off at 4:30 p.m. Following that game, High Point hosts Radford on Feb. 1 before heading out for three straight road games at Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina and Birmingham-Southern.
