Arizona Reid scored 20 of his game high 22 points in the second half as the High Point Panthers broke open a close game in the second half to earn an important 88-67 Big South Conference victory over UNC Asheville on Monday night.

With the win, High Point improved to 14-11 on the year and 7-7 in the Big South. The Panthers have now eclipsed last year's season win total and also matched their conference victory mark. UNC Asheville saw its three-game road win streak halted with the loss as they fall to 9-17 overall and 6-9 in league play. High Point earned its first season sweep of the Bulldogs in program history.

In addition to Reid's strong performance, seniors Akeem Scott and Issa Konare both poured in 17 points in the victory. Scott drained a trio of three-pointers on the night while Konare was nearly perfect shooting the ball going 7-8 from the floor, making his lone three-point try and also connecting on both his free throw attempts. Junior Landon Quick finished with 10 points to also reach double figures.

The Bulldog's freshman standout Michael Ellis led a pair of players in double digits scoring 20 points. Joseph Barber added 11 points in the loss. Chad Mohn finished with 10 rebounds to top all performers on the glass.

UNC Asheville jumped out quickly scoring the first five points of the game as the Panthers struggled to get a shot to fall missing their first four shots. After a Mike Jefferson jumper ended the HPU scoring drought, High Point raced to the lead outscoring the Bulldogs 17-5 over the next several minutes.

The Panthers led by as many as 11 points three times in the closing minutes of the opening frame before taking a 34-25 lead into the halftime break. HPU held the Bulldogs to just 32 percent shooting (9-28) from the floor in the period while shooting 45 percent (14-31) themselves. Konare led the way with nine points, five rebounds and three blocked shots in the stanza.

"This was a great team effort," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We played extremely unselfish and I thought Arizona really stepped it up in the second half. Issa played another solid all-around game and that is what we need from him down the stretch. We wanted to be playing our best basketball at the end of February and tonight we played pretty well."

Reid sparked an early HPU surge in the second half scoring 12 points in the first eight minutes of play to help the Panthers open up a 20-point advantage, 61-41. During that stretch, High Point made 11 of its first 14 shots in the half. UNCA kept fighting but could get no closer than 14 points as HPU blistered the nets at a 58 percent (21-36) pace in the second half.

High Point finished the game shooting 52 percent from the floor and made six three pointers. The Panthers won the battle of the boards earning a 44-37 edge in rebounds. Reid totaled nine boards to come up just short of a double-double with Konare hauling down eight.

HPU dished out 20 assists on the night with Jefferson leading the way with six and Reid adding a career best five. High Point also forced 17 UNCA turnovers recording 14 steals, led by Reid's four, and converting those miscues into 24 points.