High Point survived a late charge by Radford to earn a hard-fought 87-84 victory in the opening round of the Big South Conference Tournament on Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd at the Dedmon Center.
The fifth-seeded Panthers snapped a five-game road losing steak with the win as they improve to 16-12 on the year. HPU also improved to 4-1 all-time in the opening round of the league tournament. Radford's season ends at 16-13 as they drop their third straight tourney opener.
First-team All-Big South performer Arizona Reid led the way for High Point finishing with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double, marking his 11th of the year. Senior Issa Konare also tallied a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds while also recording three blocks. Mike Jefferson finished with 19 points and Akeem Scott added 12 in the victory.
Highlander senior Whit Holcomb-Faye led all scorers with 33 points in his final collegiate game. Chris Oliver posted a double-double scoring 16 points and hauling in 15 rebounds including 12 in the first half. Andre Bynum had 14 poitns and Reggie McIntyre scored 10 to round out the RU double-digit performers.
"This was a great college basketball game," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy, who improves to 4-2 at the Big South Tournament. "Both teams left it all out on the floor tonight. I felt like the real difference in the game was our ability to get defensive stops in the second half that fueled our offensive tempo. I am very proud of my team and the way the made plans down the stretch to earn the win."
Radford scored the first seven points of the game en route to taking an early 16-7 advantage. Sophomore Mike Jefferson sparked a 21-0 surge by the Panthers scoring 12 points including a pair of three-pointers to put HPU up by 10, 26-16, at the 11:19 mark.
The Highlanders answered with a 12-2 spurt including eight points from Holcomb-Faye to knot the score at 28 just three minutes later. The two squads then settled into a back-and-forth battle with Radford eventually opening up a six-point edge, 39-33, with just under three minutes left in the period.
A three-pointer and free throw by Akeem Scott and a layup by Justin Dunn earned the third tie of the half before a Holcomb-Faye triple in the closing half minute ended the scoring and sent the Highlanders to the break with a 42-39.
Out of the break, Radford built the lead to eight points just two minutes in the period before an 11-2 run by the Panthers allowed them to grab a lead at 55-54 on a free throw by Scott.
With the score tied at 57, High Point outscored Radford 17-6 over the next five minutes to earn a double-digit advantage, 74-63, with 6:28 remaining. The Highlanders refused to quit eventually tying the score at 81 on a three-pointer by Bynum with 46 seconds left to play.
Konare then drained his second trey of the night moments later to put the Panthers up by three and Scott hit one of two free throws to give HPU a four-point edge with under 10 tick left. Holcomb-Faye dropped in his sixth three-pointer of the night to trim the deficit to one by a pair of Jefferson free throws iced the game as Dan Ross' shot at the buzzer caromed off the glass allowing High Point to escape and advance.
The Panthers will now travel to Rock Hill, S.C., on Thursday to face top-seeded Winthrop at 7 p.m. in the first of two Big South Conference semifinal games. The game is scheduled to be televised by ESPNU.
