The High Point University men's basketball team made a triumphant return to the friendly confines of the Millis Athletic Center routing Florida Christian, 124-43, in the 2008 home debut on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 1,128.
The Panthers (7-6) snapped a two-game losing skid with a record-setting performance that included a school record 81-point victory margin, shooting 75.6 percent from the floor in the first half and six players with double-digit points. Florida Christian, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association, dressed just seven players in suffering their 14th consecutive loss to fall to 2-17 on the season.
The win extended HPU's current overall home win streak to nine and their non-conference home win streak to 18 games. High Point, which plays four of its next five games in the Millis Center, is a perfect 5-0 at home this season after recording the program's 76th 100-point performance and eighth under head coach Bart Lundy on Tuesday.
Senior Arizona Reid tallied his ninth double-double of the season to lead the Panther attack finishing with 29 points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes of play. His board total allowed him to become only the third player in Big South history to record over 1,600 points and 800 rebounds in a career. He currently has 1,642 points and 808 caroms.
Sophomore Eugene Harris drilled four three-pointers on his way to 18 points with fellow sophomore Tim Burns chipping in a career-best 16. Cruz Daniels and David Campbell both tallied 14 points and senior walk-on Kyle Witek posted a career best 10 points for HPU. Senior Mike Jefferson handed out nine assists to lead High Point to a season best 35 helpers in the contest. HPU had 10 of its 12 players score in the game and all 12 pulled down a rebound.
"Our guys really came focused and ready to play on both ends of the floor," said Lundy, who needs just eight wins to reach 200 for his career. "We got good effort from everybody in our line-up. It was nice to get a victory and allow everybody to gain some confidence. We have some really positive feelings heading into the start of Big South play. I was also glad to get back home and play in front of a really energized crowd, especially the HPU student sections."
HPU blitzed out of the gates scoring the game's first 16 points while holding FCC scoreless for over three minutes. The Panthers, who substituted freely throughout the game, led by over 30 points with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half and built as large as a 51-point advantage twice before earning a 72-23 halftime lead.
The Panthers made 31-of-41 first half shot attempts (75.6 percent) and also connected on 8-of-16 tries from long distance. HPU attempted and made both of their free throws in the opening 20 minutes. Florida Christian was 8-for-25 (32.0 percent) from the floor including a pair of treys.
High Point scored the first eight points of the second half and held a lead of over 60 just five minutes into the second half. A few minutes later, Lundy pulled the HPU starters and played mostly zone defense the remainder of the game as the Panthers continued to build on their lead until it reached the final 81-point margin, breaking the previous high of 71 points set in 1937-38 in a 90-19 victory over Guilford College. High Point's previous largest Division I Era win came early this year with a 70-point (93-23) win over Warren Wilson on Nov. 19.
For the game, High Point shot 68.4 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the three-point line. HPU held the Suns to just 29.6 percent shooting overall and 18.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Panthers held a 50-21 edge in rebounding and also forced 25 FCC turnovers including 20 steals by HPU.
With their pre-conference tune-ups out of the way, High Point now turns its attention to Big South Conference play beginning on Saturday as the Panthers host defending league champion Winthrop at 7 p.m. The game has been designated as "Black Out" night with all fans encouraged to wear black to the game.
