High Point's Akeem Scott scored a career-best 31 points including six three-pointers but it wasn't enough as Winthrop earned a chance to play for the Big South regular season title with the 94-78 win on Thursday night at Winthrop Coliseum.

 

Scott's total marks the first 30-point performance for an HPU player since Mark Wilson tallied 31 against Birmingham-Southern on Jan. 8, 2005.

 

The loss drops High Point to 14-12 overall and 7-8 in the Big South and puts the Panthers into the fifth-seed slot for next week's league tournament. Winthrop improves to 19-7 and 12-3 in conference play. The Eagles play at Birmingham-Southern on Saturday night with the winner earning the regular season crown. The win also moved WU head coach Gregg Marshall to the top of the school's all-time win list with 161.

 

In addition to Scott's career night, Arizona Reid scored 12 points and pulled down a team-best nine rebounds while Justin Dunn continued his solid play of late scoring 13. Landon Quick and Mike Jefferson both dished out five assists.

 

Winthrop senior James Shuler made the most of his senior night finishing with near career highs in both points (26) and assists (11). Shuler was a perfect 18-for-18 from the free throw line single-handedly topping the Panthers from the stipe, as HPU went 11-for-19 at the line. Torrell Martin added 17 points for the Eagles and a trio of other players each scored 11 including Craig Bradshaw, Michael Jenkins and WU's other senior Otis Daniels.

 

"It was similar to the first game in that we dug a hole and seemed to be battling uphill the rest of the night," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I was proud of how we kept fighting and made a comeback early in the second half. There were a couple of key plays that just didn't go our way tonight. We had a few costly turnovers. It ultimately boiled down to their advantage in the experience category. We have to just get back to work and try and build some momentum heading into the tournament."

 

High Point grabbed the early momentum in the contest taking an 11-6 lead over the first four minutes as Scott connected on three straight treys. Winthrop fought back and took the lead 14-13 on a three-pointer by Michael Jenkins at the 14:39 mark.

 

After some free throws by Shuler pushed the lead to three for the Eagles, Justin Dunn got a tip-in to make the score 16-15. From that point Winthrop exploded over the next four minutes outscoring High Point 17-2, including a 12-0 surge to earn a 33-17 advantage.

 

The Panthers used a 9-4 spurt of their own to trim the deficit to 12 points (40-28), but Winthrop behind a three-pointer from Torrell Martin and more free throws by Shuler extended their margin to a first-half high of 20 points (32-52) with 2:47 remaining.

 

HPU closed the half with back-to-back treys from Reid and Scott to enter the halftime break down by the score of 59-43. Scott finished the frame with 20 points to lead High Point and Shuler had 14 for the Eagles including a perfect 10-10 performance from the charity stripe.

 

High Point got things rolling at the start of the second stanza using a 14-6 run to close the margin to single digits, 65-57, on a three-pointer by Troy Bowen with 12:50 on the clock. It marked the closest the Panthers had been since trailing by six with 11:25 left to play in the first half.

 

Moments later Reid was whistled for a technical foul after hanging on the rim during a dunk attempt. His bucket was waived off, which would have cut the deficit to just six, and following a pair of free throws by Shuler and back-to-back buckets for the Eagles the lead was upped to 14.

 

The Panthers continued to battle and got as close as 11 points a couple times but Winthrop salted the game away hitting nine of 10 free throws in the closing minutes for the final margin.

 

For the game, High Point committed 20 turnovers resulting in 27 points for the Eagles. Winthrop won the battle on the glass edging HPU in rebounds 36-32. WU also finished the game with 23 assists, a season best for a High Point opponent.

 

The Panthers will conclude their regular season slate on Saturday versus Liberty at 7 p.m. The game marks the final home appearance for HPU seniors Issa Konare and Akeem Scott, who will be honored during a pre-game ceremony.