With both teams in need of a victory, High Point junior guard Landon Quick saved the day for the Panthers tipping a rebound in at the buzzer to give HPU a 73-72 win over VMI on Wednesday night in Millis Arena.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid for High Point and improved their record to 13-10 overall and 6-7 in Big South play. With 13 victories this year HPU has matched its season win total from last year. The loss was VMI's ninth straight dropping the Keydets to 7-17 and 2-11 in league action.

Sophomore Mike Jefferson scored 19 points to lead HPU in scoring for the second consecutive game. The Kansas City, Mo., native went 7-for-14 from the floor including a career best five three-pointers. Arizona Reid poured in 18 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds with Akeem Scott chipping in 15 points.

Travis Holmes paced a quartet of Keydets in double-digits with 20 points followed by 19 from Reggie Williams. Matt Murrer finished with 12 points and a game best 13 boards for a double-double. VMI was outscored from the floor by the Panthers but kept in the game by connecting on 25-of-36 free throws for the game compared to a 12-for-20 performance by HPU from the stripe.

"This was a must win game for our team," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We have set a goal to finish strong at home and we are still fighting for a first round game here so we really needed this victory. I was proud of our effort for most of the game and I was glad to see us make a play in the end to earn the win. We have to gain confidence from this win and build on it."

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half as HPU shot just 32 percent (10-31) from the floor and VMI connected on just 5 of 24 first half attempts (20 percent). The Keydets made 12 free throws in the opening frame to keep things close trailing just 31-25 at the break. Several costly miscues hurt the Panthers who owned a 12-point advantage (22-10) with six minutes left in the period.

VMI opened the second half with a 12-5 run knotting the score at 37 with 17:14 to play on a Chavis Holmes layup. Things stayed close from that point with neither team leading by more than a basket for nearly five minutes. The Keydets earned a four-point edge with 12:26 showing on a putback by Preston Beverly. HPU rallied over the next four minutes regaining the lead at 55-54 on a jumper by Reid.

The Keydets again moved ahead by four points with just over five minutes left in the game and again the Panthers raced back to knot the score at 67 with 3:39 on the clock. Trailing 70-69 with under a minute to play, Scott dropped in a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left to put HPU ahead by one. Williams scored 10 seconds later on a driving layup putting VMI back in front and setting up the frantic closing moments.

After back-to-back turnovers by each team and with 0:06.8 showing on the clock, HPU in-bounded the ball from its own sideline to Reid who missed a shot from the free throw line. Scott chased down the rebound and launched a shot from the left baseline that glanced off the backboard and was corralled by Quick and put back in before the buzzer sounded for the win.

High Point's win coupled with UNC Asheville's loss on Wednesday night to Winthrop pushes the Panthers into sole possession of fifth-place in the Big South standings, just a game behind Radford (7-6) in the race for a first round tournament home game.

HPU travels to Baltimore, Md., on Friday for its final non-conference game of the season at Loyola (Md.) at 7 p.m. The Greyhounds are 12-12 overall and feature the nation's third leading scorer in Andre Collins (26.8 ppg). Collins trails only Gonzaga's Adam Morrison and Duke's J.J. Redick on the list.