The High Point men's basketball team continued its success in Big South Conference road play on Wednesday night posting an impressive 75-65 victory over Radford in the Dedmon Center.
Junior Arizona Reid led the Panthers (16-6, 7-1 Big South) scoring 29 points and pulling down five rebounds. With the win, HPU matches its win total from last season and also extends its conference road win streak to four games. Radford dropped its fourth straight game slipping to 7-16 overall and 2-6 in league play.
"This was a big win for our team," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "Not only was it important in the conference race but also from a confidence standpoint. I was proud of the way we got back to playing more unselfish and stepping up defensively and on the boards. We got solid contributions from a variety of players tonight."
Radford scored the first six points of the game as High Point struggled on the offensive end missing a few shots and committing several turnovers. The Panthers eventually got things going scoring the next seven points to grab their first lead. The two squads took turns with the lead for most of the rest of the half until HPU used an 8-2 spurt to earn a 27-21 advantage with 1:10 left in the period.
The Highlanders trimmed the deficit to two before Reid drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer giving the Panthers a 30-25 halftime lead.
The Highlanders opened up the second half with four straight points to close the gap to one, but after trading baskets for several possessions High Point pushed the lead to eight on a three-pointer from Eugene Harris and a pair of jumpers by Cruz Daniels.
Radford whittled the margin back to one with around 14 minutes remaining only to have High Point again stretch their advantage to seven over the next three minutes. The Highlanders made a final push pulling to within one, 55-54, on a three-pointer by Kenny Thomas at the 8:32 mark, but the Panthers again had the answer as Melvin Crowder drained a trey on HPU's next possession sparking a game deciding 11-1 surge.
High Point led by as many as 13 points down the stretch on their way to a fourth consecutive win over Radford.
An unselfish Panther squad finished the game with 21 assists on 28 baskets. Senior Landon Quick dished out six helpers to pace the squad with Harris and Mike Jefferson each handing out five assists. Jefferson scored nine points in the game with Troy Bowen and Harris both chipping in eight points.
Amir Johnson scored 14 points to lead a trio of Highlander players in double-digits while also hauling down a team best seven rebounds. Big South Player of the Year candidate, Chris Oliver, fouled out and was held to a season low four points and one rebound.
The Panthers continue their current four-game road trip at Liberty on Saturday at 7 p.m.
