Making just their second home appearance of the 2007-08 season, the High Point men's basketball team got double-doubles from seniors Arizona Reid and Mike Jefferson en route to a 75-65 victory over Johnson & Wales University on Saturday night at the Millis Athletic Center.
HPU improved to 4-4 on the season with the victory extending their current home win streak to six games and their non-conference home win streak to 15. JWU slips to 5-7 on the year after dropping their second straight road contest.
Reid finished with game highs in both points (29) and rebounds (12). It was the third time in the last four games that the Gaffney, S.C., native has tallied 29 points and it was also his fifth double-double this year and second in a row. Jefferson scored 15 points and handed out 10 assists marking his second double-figure assist performance in the last three games.
The Wildcats got 21 points from Alex Blue and 19 from David Tucker in a losing cause. JWU kept things close throughout the contest with High Point by forcing 23 turnovers and connecting on 11 three-pointers, which accounted for over half of their points in the game.
Things were close early in the opening half as the two teams traded the lead several times over the first 10 minutes of play. The Panthers used a 12-2 run to grab a 17-8 lead with 9:13 showing on the clock in the first half. However, several HPU miscues and some timely treys by the visitors saw JWU scored 11 straight points to retake the lead at 19-17 with 6:18 left in the period.
Jefferson drained one of his three treys on High Point's next possession allowing them to regain the lead and Eugene Harris followed with another three-pointer along with a three-point play by Melvin Crowder to put HPU back in front at 26-19. After trading a few baskets, the Panthers held JWU scoreless over the final 3:16 of the half to build a 35-24 advantage at the break.
HPU scored the first five points of the second half to increase their lead to 16 just over a minute into play. The Panthers maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game and even led by as much as 22 points, the last coming at 62-40 with 9:48 left, but had to battle the Wildcats to the final horn.
JWU trimmed the deficit to 13 points (65-52) at 4:39 following a 7-0 spurt, but Jefferson drilled three consecutive free throws and assisted on a lay-up by Reid to halt that challenge. Back-to-back treys from Jarrod Johnson and Tucker close the gap to just 12 points with 2:36 left to play but a three-point play by Reid again ended the Wildcat rally. Johnson & Wales scored the final five points of the game to reach the final deficit.
In addition to Reid and Jefferson, Harris also tallied double-figures for HPU finishing with 16 points including a team-best four treys to go along with seven rebounds. Freshman Earnest Bridges had seven points and six rebounds in his first collegiate start. For JWU, Matthew Stanley led all players with five rebounds while also scoring 10 points.
Johnson & Wales head coach David Graham and HPU head coach Bart Lundy were college teammates at UNC-Pembroke.
The Panthers will take almost a week off from competition as the players participate in final exams for the fall semester. HPU continues its current three-game home stand on Friday, Dec. 14, against Anderson University at 7 p.m.
