The High Point University men's basketball team used a stout defensive effort in earning a decisive 72-43 victory over Limestone College on Wednesday night in the Millis Athletic Center.

HPU improved to 4-5 on the season and snapped a two-game home losing skid after holding the visiting Saints (2-4) to the fourth lowest point total by an opponent in program history. The Panthers were also bolstered by a regained shooting touch that included making nine three-pointers after connecting on just six treys in the last three games combined.

Junior Eugene Harris drilled four three-pointers en route to a team leading 17 points for High Point. Dave Campbell joined Harris in double digits finishing with 12 points including 10 in the first half. Campbell also handed out six assists to pace the Panthers. Sophomore Earnest Bridges pulled down a career best 11 rebounds in helping HPU to a 46-26 advantage on the glass. Bridges' double-figure performance marked the second straight game a Panther player had recorded more than 10 rebounds.

Junior Cruz Daniels, who already holds the HPU record for career blocked shots, swatted four shots in the game to climb into 10th place on the Big South Conference all-time list with 158 blocks in his three-year career.

Michael Barrett led all scorers with 19 points off the bench for Limestone.

The Panthers raced out of the gate scoring the first 12 points of the game. High Point's defense held Limestone off the board for the first six minutes of play. Limestone scored the next seven points to close the deficit to just five points over the next three minutes. From that point, HPU maintained a lead but could not pull away as the Saints connected on several three-pointers to keep things close. Campbell tossed in a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give HPU a 31-24 lead at the break.

"I thought we got good effort from our team tonight," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy, who improved to 28-1 in non-conference home games at High Point. "Our defense really did a good job, especially in the second half of the game. It was also good to see our outside shots start to fall again. Hopefully, we can build on this performance and use some of the confidence we got from winning to continue improving as we move forward."

High Point opened the second half with a 14-5 to take a 45-29 lead at the 13:32 mark. Limestone rallied with a 7-1 run to pull within single digits at 46-37 just over two minutes later. The Panthers turned up the defensive pressure from that point and gained control of the game, closing the contest with a 26-6 run. HPU's defense limited the Saints to just one point over a six-minute stretch and held the Limestone offense scoreless for the final 2:41 of the game.

For the game, High Point shot 47.5 percent from the floor while holding Limestone to just 29.6 percent including a 22.6 percent clip in the second half. HPU continued to struggle from the free throw line making just 7 of 12 attempts (58.3 percent).

The Panthers will continue their current four-game home stand on Saturday against Towson University at 7 p.m.