The High Point University men's basketball team posted a hard-fought 90-73 win over Radford University on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Tournament at the Millis Athletic Center.
The Panthers (22-9) used a balanced offensive attack placing a season-high six players in double-figures led by junior Mike Jefferson's 22 point performance. A quartet of Highlanders (8-22) also topped double-digits paced by 23 from Big South All-Freshman honoree Amir Johnson.
"First of all I am just happy to be advancing," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I want to give Radford credit for playing hard and never quitting. It was a real battle tonight. I thought in the first half we played well defensively and that led to us being able to get a little bit of a lead. We executed on both ends of the floor. We had a few lapses in the second half that could have been really costly, but our team did a great job of sticking together and working through them. It was nice to see the balance we had tonight. We are excited to be moving on and look forward to the next challenge."
Radford grabbed an early 9-3 lead over the opening five minutes of play as both teams struggled to get settled on offense. High Point used an 11-2 surge over the next five minutes to earn their first lead of the game at 14-11. Big South All-Freshman performer Eugene Harris connected on a pair of three-pointers to spark the run.
HPU slowly continued to build its lead taking a 37-23 lead into the halftime break.
High Point extended its lead to a 20-point margin at 48-28 with 16:40 to play in the game when Troy Bowen drilled a three-pointer. The Panthers led by as many as 24 points before Radford mounted a charge by closing the gap to just 13, 77-64 with 1:58 left but that is as close as it got for the Highlanders.
The Panthers connected on 11-of-12 free throws in the closing minutes to secure the victory and advance to the semifinals of the Big South Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.
In addition to Jefferson's 22 points, High Point got 15 points from Harris, 12 from Jerald Minnis, 11 from both Landon Quick and Bowen and 10 from Big South Player of the Year Arizona Reid, his lowest scoring total since scoring just six points against Loyola on Dec. 22. Jefferson also handed out seven assists on the night. Minnis just missed a double-double finishing with nine rebounds.
Radford seniors Chris Oliver, a second-team All-Big South player, and Reggie McIntyre ended their careers with strong performances. McIntyre netted a 16 point/11 rebound double-double while Oliver scored 14 points. Kenny Thomas also chipped in 12 for the Highlanders.
A total of 57 personal fouls were called in the game with the team's combining for 67 free throw attempts. High Point made a Big South Tournament record 37 free throws while attempting a tournament record 43 (86.0 percent). The two squads also combined to equal the Big South Tournament record for free throws made in a game with 50, as Radford converted 13 of 24. Jefferson was 14-of-16 at the stripe to lead all players.
High Point advances to a semifinal meeting with VMI, who edged Liberty 79-78 on Tuesday night at the Vines Center. The Panthers and Keydets, who just faced each other on Saturday night in the regular season finale, will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Winthrop Coliseum. Top-seeded Winthrop and fifth-seed UNC Asheville meet in the other semifinal at 8 p.m.
