A quartet of High Point Panthers notched double-digits in HPU's 88-62 victory over Lees-McRae on Tuesday night at the Millis Athletic Center.
High Point, who was playing for the first time in 10 days, overcame some early offensive struggles to post the victory in their first game of 2007. The Panthers improve to 9-5 with the victory and remain undefeated at home moving to 8-0 on the year. The loss dropped Lees-McRae to 3-5.
Junior Arizona Reid finished with 26 points to pace HPU's double-digit performers. Sophomore Troy Bowen nearly matched his career best chipping in with 18 points. Junior Mike Jefferson added 17 points, marking his sixth consecutive double figure outing, and dished out a team best six assists while fellow junior Jerald Minnis tallied his first career double-double scoring 13 points and hauling down 13 rebounds.
Henry Williams scored 15 points to lead Lees-McRae, who also got 10 points from Aaron Duggar.
HPU scored eight of the first 10 points of the game and built an 18-10 lead on a three-pointer by Bowen with 12:49 left to play in the first half. The Panthers led by as much as nine points in the opening stanza, but a 12-2 surge by the Bobcats tied the game at 27 at the 6:15 mark. The scored stayed close for several minutes before High Point closed the half on a 9-0 run over the final 2:31 to own a 45-33 halftime advantage.
A five-point surge early in the second half pushed the Panthers to a 17-point lead, but High Point couldn't put LMC away as the Bobcats closed the deficit to 10 points (60-50) with 10:26 left to play. The Panthers answered with a 22-6 spurt over the next six minutes of play to take control of the contest.
The Panthers shot 57 percent from the floor (35-61) for the game and handed out 21 assists. The two squads both pulled down 34 rebounds in the contest with Lees-McRae pulling down 16 offensive boards. The Bobcats shot 50 percent in the first half, but HPU turned things up on the defensive end holding LMC to just 25 percent in the second period. High Point also forced 21 turnovers resulting in 23 points.
"It was obvious we had been off from competition for 10 days in the first half," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I thought we played well but just couldn't get into a flow. We turned up the defense in the second half and were able to take control. It was a good game to knock of the rust from the break. Hopefully, we can build on our second half performance as we head into conference action."
High Point now turns its attention to Big South Conference play with their league opener on Saturday against Radford. The Panthers and Highlanders are slated to tip-off at 7 p.m. at the Millis Center.
