Senior Mike Jefferson scored the final 12 points for High Point as the Panthers outlasted the Winthrop Eagles, 62-61, on Saturday night in the Big South Conference opener for both squads in front of 2,117 fans at the Millis Athletic Center.

HPU (8-6, 1-0 Big South) snapped Winthrop's (9-7, 0-1) 22-game Big South Conference win streak and also halted an eight-game losing skid of their own against the Eagles.

Jefferson led all players with 23 points including six three-pointers while also handing out a team leading six assists. Fellow senior Arizona Reid recorded his Big South leading 10th double-double finishing with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Eugene Harris added 11 points and held Winthrop's leading scorer Michael Jenkins (14.9 ppg) to no field goals and just two points in 32 minutes of play.

Winthrop senior Chris Gaynor led the Eagles with 21 points including four treys but missed a free throw with under 10 seconds to play that would have tied the game. He was the lone WU player in double-digits in the contest.

"This was a huge win for our program," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy, who owns both of the Panthers all-time victories over Winthrop. "Winthrop has been a barrier for our team for several years and to play so well and finally get a win is a great feeling and says a lot about the character of our players. I thought it was a great college basketball atmosphere tonight and I want to thank all our fans, especially the HPU students, for coming out and helping us get this win. I was very proud of how our seniors stepped up and really showed some great leadership down the stretch."

For the third consecutive time in a contest between High Point and Winthrop in the Millis Center, the game came down to the final possession. Jefferson's final five points gave HPU a 62-57 lead with 0:43 left to play. Taj McCullough hit a trey for Winthrop to trim the deficit to just two points (62-60) with 22 seconds remaining.

Jefferson was fouled seconds later but missed a free throw allowing the Eagles the chance at the final shot. Gaynor drew a foul with 0:07 left and made his first free throw making the score 62-61 in favor of HPU. His second chance bounced out but the rebound was grabbed by both Harris and Winthrop's Antwon Harris with the Eagles retaining the ball on the alternating possession. Harris' shot at the buzzer missed and was boarded by Reid to end the game.

Both teams played tremendous defense in an opening half that saw Winthrop take a 21-18 lead into the break thanks to a three-pointer from Justin Burton at the buzzer. HPU shot just 25 percent from the floor in the first period with Winthrop connecting on just 33.3 percent of their attempts.  The two squads found their strokes in the second stanza though as the Panther's blistered the nets at a 68.2 percent clip including drilling 10 of 15 three-point tries while the Eagles shot 48.1 percent.

Coming out of the halftime break, Winthrop maintained a slight edge until Harris connected on a trey with 13:46 showing to knot the score at 31 followed by a layup from Reid that gave HPU their first lead of the game. Gaynor responded with a trey for Winthrop to regain the lead then Reid dropped in a three-pointer to push High Point back in front. Gaynor answered with three consecutive long range connections giving the Eagles their largest lead of the contest at 43-36 with 10:15 left in the game.

Jefferson then got things rolling for High Point dishing out back-to-back assists on a pair of Harris three-pointers allowing HPU to close to within a single point. After the squads traded free throws, Jefferson nailed a trey to even the score at 47 with 7:13 remaining.  Moments later Reid buried a trey to erase a three-point play by WU's Charles Corbin and tied the score at 50 setting up Jefferson's final scoring flurry.

Jefferson hit a three-pointer with 4:45 left to put HPU in front 53-52 and hit another trey at 3:54 for a 56-53 lead. Back-to-back baskets for Corbin gave the Eagles their final lead of the night 57-56 with 2:39 left, but Jefferson again answered the call hitting a free throw, a three-pointer and a jumper as the shot clock was winding down to give High Point the lead for good.

High Point, who has now captured its fifth consecutive Big South home opener, has little time to enjoy the victory as the Panthers will visit streaking UNC Asheville on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the league road opener for HPU.

** Relive all the excitement of the final play by listening to Jason Benetti's call at the link above***