Behind a career-best 21 points from sophomore Earnest Bridges, the High Point University men's basketball team earned a hard fought 73-64 victory at North Carolina Central on Wednesday night in McLendon-McDougald Gym.

The Panthers improved to 3-4 on the year and earned their first road victory of the season. With the win, HPU also improved to 23-8 versus in-state opponents under Head Coach Bart Lundy. The Eagles, playing their first home game of the year, dropped to 0-7 on the season with the loss. The game marked the first time since 1995 that a Division I in-state opponent has played a game on the NCCU campus.

Bridges, hit 10 of 11 shots from the field, in leading a dominant Panther performance in the post which accounted for 38 points in the paint. Eugene Harris added 14 points for HPU while Jourdan Morris finished with eight points in his debut for High Point. Jamar Briscoe scored 26 points including four treys to pace the Eagle offense.

The two squads battled back and forth during the opening half. High Point held its biggest lead at 13-9 with just over 11 minutes left in the period while the Eagles held a four-point advantage (32-28) with just over four minutes on the clock. Harris hit a jumper in the lane with three seconds on the clock giving HPU a 34-32 advantage before a half court heave by Briscoe at the buzzer sent NCCU into the break with a 35-34 lead.

"I'm pleased with the progress we made since Monday," said Lundy. "We asked our guard to sacrifice some outside looks in order to make an effort of getting the ball inside. I thought they did a good job of doing what we asked them to do tonight. I'm proud of the way we played and earned a win in a difficult place to play."

High Point scored the first six points out of the halftime break to regain the lead 40-35. North Carolina Central battled back and regained the lead at 46-44 with 12:14 to play. The Panthers turned things up on the defensive end holding the Eagles scoreless from the floor for almost seven minutes. HPU outscored the Eagles, 13-4, during the drought by NCCU to push their lead to 59-50.

NCCU scored the next six points to close to within three at 59-56, but High Point answered with nine straight points to regain control of the game. Nick Barbour started the run with the Panthers only three-pointer of the night followed by free throws by Harris, and an old-fashioned three-point play from Bridges following a stellar blocked shot by Cruz Daniels.

The Panthers made the necessary free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.

High Point next returns home to begin a four-game home stand in the Millis Center. The Panthers open the stretch on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Big South Conference newcomer Presbyterian.