High Point senior Mike Jefferson drilled an off-balanced three-pointer with 15 seconds left to cap a game-winning rally by the Panthers in their 70-68 victory on the road at Radford on Monday night.

HPU, who improved to 11-9 overall and 3-3 in Big South play, after snapping a six-game road losing skid with their come-from-behind win. With the loss, Radford slips to 5-15 and 0-5. The win was also the Panther's six straight versus the Highlanders.

Despite battling foul trouble all night, High Point's Arizona Reid finished with a game high 22 points and seven rebounds but sat out 10 minutes in the first half and fouled out of the game with 3:14 left to play setting up the heroic comeback by his teammates.

Jefferson finished with 14 points and also handed out 10 assists while Eugene Harris added 13 points. Freshman Dave Campbell was a perfect 3-for-3 from long distance and sophomore Cruz Daniels chipped in eight points, six rebounds and six blocked shots, to become the program's career shot blocking leader with 111 in just his second season. Josh Lamons also provided solid minutes in the paint for HPU in Reid's absence scoring four points and pulling down four boards.

Kenny Thomas led a trio of double-digit Radford scorers netting 22 points including four three-pointers. Thomas connected on a pair of late treys that each gave the Highlanders hope of earning their first league victory. Martell McDuffy added 18 in the loss for RU while Eric Hall grabbed 11 rebounds in helping the Highlanders earn a 43-29 advantage on the glass.

"This was a huge game for us," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "It was a big growth step for us as a team because not only did we grind out an important road victory but we found a way to comeback and win a game with Arizona on the bench. We have made improvements over the past two games and hopefully we can continue to build on that as we move forward. I was proud of the contributions that we got from a variety of players tonight."

For the second straight game, HPU struggled out of the block falling behind 9-3 over the first five minutes while making just one of their first eight shot attempts.  Radford carried the momentum to a 21-8 lead on a jumper by Thomas at the 11:46 mark in the first period. After hitting one of his four treys on the night, Reid picked up his second foul of the stanza with 10:10 on the clock and exited a Big South game for the first time all season.

With their leading scorer on the bench, the Panthers mounted a furious rally outscoring the Highlanders 17-7 to earn a 28-28 tie with 2:30 remaining. Harris scored 11 points in the run including three consecutive treys. Thomas connected on a buzzer-beating triple at the end of the first half to give Radford a 35-30 halftime lead.

Radford used a 9-2 advantage on the offensive glass during the first five minutes of the second half to stake a 43-34 lead. Reid hit back-to-back treys to pull the Panthers within three before the Highlanders tallied a 10-1 surge to take a 53-41 advantage with 11:04 left.

High Point answered the RU surge with a 14-2 run of its own including six points from Reid, a three-pointer by Campbell and four free throws each by Jefferson and Daniels. Daniels makes from the charity stripe with 5:19 remaining gave the Panthers their first lead of the game at 57-55.

McDuffy dropped in a three-pointer on Radford's next possession to retake the lead but Campbell buried a trey from the corner to push High Point back in front by two. The teams traded the lead and with High Point down by one, 62-61, Reid was whistled for his fifth foul on a charge while attempting to score on the block. Thomas added a three-pointer for the Highlanders on their next possession to give them a 65-61 lead with 2:59 left to play.

Campbell again hit a huge shot for the Panthers drilling a trey from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down to close the deficit to one. After a RU turnover, Harris was fouled and made a pair of free throws to give High Point the lead one more. Thomas hit another trey with 0:30 on the clock setting up the end of the game excitement.

Down by two, Jefferson tracked down a ball that was deflected into the back court and drove the ball around a pair of defenders before launching the game-winning trey. The Panthers played solid defense to thwart Radford's final play and added a Jefferson free throw to ice the game.

HPU will now enjoy nearly a week off from competition before hosting VMI on Saturday night at 7 p.m., in the final game of the first half of the Big South schedule.