The High Point University men's basketball team used double-doubles from seniors Mike Jefferson and Arizona Reid to get back on the winning track with an impressive 73-47 victory over Charleston Southern on Monday night at the Millis Athletic Center.
With the win, High Point improves to 9-8 overall and 2-2 in Big South play. The Panthers have now won three straight over Charleston Southern (7-12, 1-3) and are 7-1 at home this season.
Reid scored 24 points and pulled down a season-best 16 rebounds to lead HPU to a 41-25 edge on the glass over a CSU squad who led the Big South in rebound margin heading into tonight's contest. The double-double was his league leading 13th of the season and 39th of his career. With his 11th rebound in the game, Reid climbed to second on the Big South's all-time rebounding list at 865 and trails career leader Joe Spinks of Campbell (1990-94) by just 89.
Jefferson, who tallied his 4th double-double this season with 13 points and 10 assists, made some history of his own becoming the High Point program's all-time career assist leader surpassing former teammate and HPU standout Landon Quick. Jefferson now has 378 and could become the first Panther to record 400 assists in a career with just 22 more.
High Point, who has struggled shooting the ball the past two games, found some offensive flow on Monday night hitting 30 of 59 shot attempts (50.8 percent) and going 9-for-10 from the free throw line. The HPU defense held one of the league's top scoring squads to a season low 47 points on 15-of-47 (31.9 percent) shooting. High Point allowed CSU, who ranked second in three-pointers made in the Big South, just five treys on the night.
"I am very proud of the overall effort we gave tonight," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We played some very solid defense and really moved the ball well on offense. It was nice to see us get back to playing well as a group. I also want to congratulate both Mike and AZ on their accomplishments. They have both been very important pieces to our program's success and it is a pleasure to see them recognized for their commitment and hard work."
After Charleston Southern scored the first basket, High Point scored the next seven points and never relinquished the lead again. The Panthers held a seven-point lead twice in the first half before using a 7-0 spurt late in the period to grab a 35-25 advantage with 0:19 left to play on a lay-up by Reid. CSU got a pair of free throws from Omar Carter to but their deficit to 35-27 at the half.
The Panthers outscored CSU 15-2 early in the second half sparked by 10 points from Reid to grab a 54-33 lead with 13:05 remaining. The Bucs got a bucket from Jamarco Warren to pull within 19 but got no closer the rest of the way as HPU maintained a 20+ point advantage until the final buzzer.
In addition to Reid and Jefferson, High Point got 14 points from Eugene Harris and 12 points, nine rebounds from Cruz Daniels.
Charleston Southern was led by 16 points from Warren with Omar Jackson netting nine points and six boards to pace the Bucs on the boards.
High Point will conclude its current home stand on Thursday night when the Panthers welcome non-conference foe Longwood for a rematch in the MACC at 7 p.m.
