For the first 36 minutes the fifth-seeded High Point Panthers battled the top-seeded Winthrop Eagles toe-to-toe, but a late surge allowed Winthrop to escape with a 77-65 victory in the first semifinal game of the Big South Conference Tournament on Thursday night at Winthrop Coliseum.
High Point ends the year at 16-13 while Winthrop improves to 22-7 and advances to Saturday's championship against Coastal Carolina at Noon.
For the second consecutive game, sophomore guard Mike Jefferson shouldered much of the Panther offense. Jefferson tallied a career-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-13 from the arc, falling one three-pointer shy of tying the Conference Tournament game record. Arizona Reid finished with 17 points in the losing effort, while Akeem Scott was the team's top rebounder with six.
Junior Torrell Martin scored 21 points, including 16 in the second half, to pace an Eagle offense that placed four players in double digits. Chris Gaynor finished with 17 points including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc while Craig Bradshaw chipped in 16 and James Shuler added 11.
Winthrop scored the first four points of the game as Bradshaw hit a three and a free throw. High Point answered with three straight treys including a pair from Jefferson and one by Reid who dropped it in from the right corner with just over 16 minutes to play.
HPU kept the pressure on building the lead to eight points, 15-7, on a Justin Dunn layup at the 12:30 mark. The Eagles soared back trimming the deficit to just two, 18-16, with a 9-3 run of their own but another trey by Jefferson and a jumper by Reid extended the lead back to seven.
Back-to-back triples from Chris Gaynor pulled the Eagles to within one point, 23-22, but Jefferson again stepped up for the Panthers hitting his fifth trey of the period to stem the tide. Winthrop refused to quit using an 8-2 run over the final two minutes of the frame to take a 32-31 lead into the break.
High Point was forced to play an extremely small lineup for much of the opening stanza as post players Issa Konare, Jerald Minnis and Josh Lamons each picked up two fouls over the first eight minutes of the first half.
"I thought we came out and guarded them very well, especially in the first half," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We really got hurt when Issa (Konare) picked up two fouls in the first minute of the game. From that point on, we had to scramble for most of the first half and then he also never was able to get going in the second."
A pair of early three-pointers allowed Winthrop to open up a five-point advantage, 38-33, but a Jefferson bucket and a triple by Troy Bowen tied the score at 38 with 16:48. The two teams then traded the lead for a couple possessions.
Gaynor banked in a three-pointer followed by a trey by Bradshaw to push the Eagles back in front, 49-43, forcing a timeout by the Panthers with 12:02 left. The two squads settled into a evenly contested game over the next five minutes before back-to-back buckets for Reid got HPU to within one, 53-52 with 7:40 remaining.
After a pair of Winthrop scores extended the lead to five, Jefferson recorded an old-fashioned three-point play with 4:59 left to close the gap to two, 57-55. His and-one free throw would be the Panther's only shot from the charity stripe in the half.
Martin then connected on back-to-back treys to spark a 10-0 run by the Eagles to up the margin to 12, 67-55, with three minutes showing on the clock. Winthrop maintained their margin over the closing minutes as High Point struggled to hit shots and committed some untimely turnovers.
"I felt like we did a good job of weathering their strong start in the second half," added Lundy. "The difference was probably the back-to-back three-pointers from (Torrell) Martin, they really seemed to break our back. I am very proud of the effort the team gave not only tonight but all season. They played with a lot of heart and soul, but ended up losing to a very good Winthrop team."
The two teams combined for a Big South Tournament game record 60 three-point attempts (32 - High Point, 28 - Winthrop) and tied the single-game Tournament record for most made threes with 22 (11 each). High Point's five free throw attempts also tied the game record for fewest free throws by one team.
