In a classic battle between rivals, the game boiled down to the last possession and Winthrop escaped with a 64-63 victory over High Point when Arizona Reid's shot bounced out as time expired.
The Panthers (15-6, 6-1 Big South), who trailed by 11 points with just under nine minutes to play, staged another late charge and had a chance to earn a win against the two-time defending conference champion Eagles (16-4, 6-0) but came up just short. The game was played in front of a sold out Millis Athletic Center crowd of 2,138 fans.
The loss snapped an eight-game overall win streak and a 15-game home win streak for High Point. The win was Winthrop's seventh straight over HPU and upped their all-time record against the Panthers to 19-1.
Despite 12 first half turnovers, High Point maintained a lead for much of the first half as both defenses were able to control the action. Winthrop earned their first lead, 19-17, on a jumper by Taj McCollough with 4:33 left in the opening half. HPU rallied to regain the lead a minute later but a steal and dunk just before the halftime buzzer by Michael Jenkins gave the Eagles the 26-25 edge at the break.
The two teams went toe-to-toe during the first seven minutes of the second half as neither squad could grab the momentum. With the score knotted a 39, Winthrop used an 11-0 run to surge in front 50-39 with 10:06 remaining and then held a double-digit lead for several minutes.
High Point slowly began chipping away at their deficit and pulled to within a bucket, 55-53, behind a 9-1 spurt of their own. Winthrop led by five (59-54) at 2:31 on a jumper by Jenkins, but a pair of free throws and a jumper by Reid cut the Eagle lead to one with 42 ticks on the clock.
HPU's defense forced a tough jumper that Landon Quick tracked down and pushed up the floor. With time winding down, Quick dished to Reid who drove the ball into the middle of the lane and launched a shot that rattled around the basket before bouncing out at the buzzer.
"This was a tough loss," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "It was a tremendously competitive college basketball game played in an unbelievable atmosphere. We just had few lapses that ended up costing us in the end. I thought we showed heart to battle back and give ourselves a chance to win the game. We got a good look for the game winner it just didn't bounce our way tonight. Hopefully, we can learn and grow from this game and continue to get better."
Reid scored a game-high 24 points including an 8-for-9 performance from the free throw line. He also pulled down nine rebounds to help the Panthers to a 36-26 rebounding advantage for the game. Freshman Eugene Harris finished with 12 points hitting all four of HPU's three-point baskets in the game. Jerald Minnis also recorded nine boards.
Antwon Harris paced the Eagles on offense scoring 21 points with Craig Bradshaw chipping in 14 points including all three of WU's treys.
High Point now plays its next four games on the road beginning with a non-conference tilt at Longwood on Sunday at 7 p.m.
