The High Point University men's basketball team rarely held an advantage against UNC Asheville on Wednesday night but grabbed the lead when it counted most earning a 69-67 victory on a last second shot by freshman Eugene Harris.
The Panthers, who improved to 19-8 overall and 9-2 in Big South play with the win, led for a total of 1:46 the entire game but scored the last basket with four seconds left to play when Harris corralled a loose ball and buried a three-pointer from the top of the key for the win. UNC Asheville slipped to 8-18 on the year and 3-8 in conference play after dropping their fourth straight league tilt.
The Panthers trailed by 13 early in the second half and by four with less than a minute to play but scored the final six points of the game to pull out the win.
High Point was led by junior Arizona Reid with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Landon Quick had nine points and seven assists and junior Mike Jefferson chipped in nine points.
The Bulldogs, who led in nearly every statistical category, were led by K.J. Garland and Kenny George with 14 points each. It was a career-high for George, as the 7-7 center went 7-of-8 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds. Garland dished out a career-high nine assists.
"We hung in there like we have done all season long," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We did not play great but we found a way to get this victory. It is a huge win for us especially making a come back on the road in the Big South. This was another total team effort for the victory."
The Bulldogs let a 13-point lead early in the second half evaporate as the Panthers rallied behind Reid. He scored 15 points in the second half, including a pair of free throws at the 2:43 mark to give HPU a 63-61 lead, their first of the period.
Garland scored on a jumper in the lane to tie the game at 63-63 at the 2:20 mark. After a High Point miss, he fed George who dunked at the 1:52 mark to give the Bulldogs a 65-63 lead.
Garland came up with a steal and fed George on the right block, who then. hit a short hook shot to push the Asheville lead to 67-63 with 1:29 remaining. Asheville forced another turnover and had possession of the ball with a minute to play.
The Bulldogs ran the shot clock down and got the ball to Bryan Smithson who misfired from 15 feet out. The Panthers got the ball down and got it to Reid, who sank a long trey at the 32-second mark to cut the lead to 67-66. Asheville in-bounded the ball to Garland who was fouled with 26 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one and Cruz Daniels rebounded the ball for HPU setting up the final furious moments.
High Point got off two shots and missed both with under 10 seconds left. Asheville had a hand on the rebound but couldn't corral the ball. The ball squirted out to Harris who knocked down the game-winning trey at the 4.8 second mark. Harris had been 0-for-5 from long distance before connecting on that shot.
Asheville tried a last-second shot to Garland but his jumper from the three-point line fell way short as the Panthers escaped with the victory.
The Bulldogs controlled the first half with their defense, limiting High Point to just 31 percent shooting (9-of-29) from the field. High Point also committed nine turnovers and went 3-13 (23.1 percent) from the three-point line as Asheville kept them off balance with a mixture of zone defenses.
In the second half, the Bulldogs got baskets from seven different players to surge to a 49-36 lead with 12:47 left. However, the Panthers forced seven Asheville second-half turnovers and steadily cut into the lead.
The win allows High Point to match the program's Division I record for season wins equaling the 19 victories in Lundy's debut year of 2003-04. The victory also marked the 50th Big South win for the Panther program.
With his 11 rebounds, Reid moved past HPU assistant Don Burgess into 25th-place on the Big South Conference all-time rebounding list with 615.
High Point next returns to action on Saturday against Charleston Southern at Noon in the Millis Athletic Center, in a game being televised by Fox Sports Net South.
