Junior Mike Jefferson scored a career-high 27 points and the High Point defense held its sixth consecutive home opponent under 60 points as the Panthers defeated Loyola College, 63-57, on Friday night at the Millis Athletic Center.
With the win, HPU extends its current home win streak to 11 games including a 7-0 mark this season and avenge a 77-71 loss at Loyola last year. The Greyhounds fall to 5-4 on the year.
"Tonight was a gritty, hard-fought victory for us," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy, who improves to 18-1 in his career at home versus non-conference foes. "Our defense bailed us out again tonight. This was a big win for our team heading into a break. I thought we got a total team effort and I was proud of the guys who stepped up off the bench for us when some of our starters got into foul trouble."
Jefferson, the lone High Point player in double-digits offensively, finished with a trio of three-pointers and also connected on 12-of-15 attempts from the free throw line to lead the Panthers. He made his last five chances from the charity stripe to help HPU ice the game in the closing seconds.
Freshman Eugene Harris and senior Landon Quick both tallied eight points on the night with junior Arizona Reid adding six. Reid paced the Panthers with seven rebounds while Quick dished out a team-best six assists. Redshirt freshman Cruz Daniels increased his Big South-leading blocked shot total to 35 with three swats in the contest.
Marquis Sullivan led a trio of Greyhound players in double-digits finishing with 17 points including five treys. Gerald Brown, the nation's sixth-leading scorer, posted just 12 points as Harris dogged him defensively all night keeping him 10 points below his season average. Omari Israel scored 11 points and blocked a pair of shots in his Loyola debut.
Both teams held a lead in the opening stanza as the two squads traded scoring runs. Loyola used a 6-0 spurt to open up a 16-10 advantage. With just under six minutes left in the half, High Point answered with an 11-0 surge over a five minute span to regain the lead and grab an eight-point advantage, 30-22. The Greyhounds scored a final bucket to trail 30-24 at halftime.
After the break, the Panthers pushed the lead back to eight points before the Greyhounds raced back with a 7-0 run to pull within a single point, 40-39, with 11:58 remaining. From that point, neither team led by more than three points until HPU made some late free throws for the final margin of victory.
Reid picked up his fourth foul at the 10:15 mark followed by junior Jerald Minnis' fourth just two seconds later. The Panthers would play almost the next seven minutes with both starting forwards on the bench, but were able to stay in the lead or tied.
Loyola grabbed their first lead of the second half at 4:35 when Michael Tuck scored a lay-up. Jefferson answered with a driving circus-style lay-up of his own a minute later to push HPU back in front. Neither team would score for the next three minutes of action and then the Panthers iced the game at the line by making some timely free throws.
High Point will now enjoy some time off for the holidays, as the Panthers do not return to the hardwood until a Jan. 2 tilt against Lees-McRae at the Millis Center. The HPU players headed home following the game and are scheduled to return for practice on Dec. 28.
