The High Point University men's basketball team battled North Carolina State in a hard-fought 69-56 loss at historic Reynolds Coliseum on Saturday night.
HPU (1-2) held several leads during the first half and held their own against the Wolfpack (2-0) despite losing their two tallest players - Cruz Daniels (foul trouble) and Steadman Short (broken nose) - for much of the game.
Freshman Nick Barbour paced the Panthers with a career-best 22 points including a 5-for-8 performance from beyond the three-point line. Senior Melvin Crowder connected on four treys en route to 12 points and junior Eugene Harris added 10 points for HPU. Harris, Barbour and sophomore Dave Campbell shared team high honors with six rebounds each.
State's Courtney Fells led all scorers with 23 points.
The game marked the first meeting between High Point and State since the 1947-48 season. A crowd of 6,200 enjoyed the highly competitive contest including over 400 HPU students, who made the short trek to Reynolds in an eight-bus caravan.
"I cannot complain about anything my team did tonight," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I was proud of how we battled despite having to play with a smaller lineup most of the night. I thought our guys gave all that I could have asked of them. Our guys continue to get better. I also want to give a big thanks to our students for coming and supporting us with such a large number. They really were a big boost to our guys."
The Panthers fell behind 6-0 at the start of the game as several shots rattled in and out on the offensive end. HPU kept battling and used a 10-2 run to grab a 17-13 lead midway through the period. Barbour capped the run with the first of his three treys in the half.
N.C. State answered with a 12-0 surge to regain the advantage and open up a 29-23 margin. A putback jumper in the lane by Earnest Bridges ended the Wolfpack rally. Barbour kept the Panthers close in the final minutes of the half drilling back-to-back three-pointers trimming the halftime deficit to 36-29 in favor of NCSU.
Out of the break, the two teams traded baskets through the first few minutes of the second half. Javier Gonzalez hit back-to-back threes over the top of the HPU zone to extend the Wolfpack's halftime advantage less than five minutes into the period.
High Point kept things close until a 16-3 run, including an 11-0 spurt, pushed N.C. State ahead by 21, 65-44, with 3:46 left in the game. Fells sparked the Wolfpack rally with 12 points during the surge. A determined Panther group refused to go away quietly, closing the game on a 12-4 run behind three straight treys from Harris, Crowder and Barbour.
HPU continues its two-game road swing with a game against South Florida in Tampa on Tuesday night.
