The High Point men's basketball could not hold onto a double-digit second half lead as Charleston Southern rallied to edge the Panthers 81-77 on Saturday night at the CSU Fieldhouse.
HPU slips to 14-11 overall and 6-5 in the Big South after the disappointing loss while CSU snaps a seven game losing skid to improve to 8-17 on the season and 2-8 in league play.
Arizona Reid led the way for High Point posting his conference leading 17th double-double with 25 points and 16 rebounds. With that performance, Reid has now eclipsed 1,900 career points (1,912) and gone over 500 career rebounds (510) in Big South Conference play. He now has 952 career rebounds and is just three boards shy of becoming the Big South's All-Time leader.
Mike Jefferson added 18 points, including 15 in the first half, for High Point with Eugene Harris chipping in 14 and Dave Campbell finishing with 10 as four of HPU's five starters went for double-digits.
CSU senior Chris Moore led a trio of Buc players in double digits with 20 points including the final four free throws to secure the victory.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with the teams battling through nine ties and 14 lead changes. Neither team led by more than three points until a 7-0 run by Charleston Southern late in the period put them in front by six, 41-35, at the 3:00 mark on a pair of free throws by Omar Carter.
High Point answered with a 7-1 run of their own including holding the Bucs without a field goal for the final three minutes to earn a 42-42 tie at the break. CSU shot 51.7 percent from the floor in the frame while HPU connected at a 48.5 percent clip.
The Panthers scored the first six points of the second half getting a pair of baskets from Campbell and a bucket from Earnest Bridges to take a 48-42 lead just two minutes into play. High Point continued their strong play building a 10-point lead with 15:35 left on another Campbell jumper.
After CSU trimmed the deficit to just six points, High Point rallied with a 10-0 surge to grab its largest lead of the night at 65-49 with 12:32 remaining. Harris dropped in back-to-back treys and Reid slammed home a fastbreak dunk to cap the run.
From there the tide turned for the Bucs, as Charleston Southern scored the next 12 points and eventually tied the score at 73 with 2:13 to play. Shaun Outen scored a basket on CSU's next possession to give them their first lead of the second half at 75-73 at 1:20, but Bridges dropped in a putback for the Panthers to even the score again with under a minute left on the clock.
After forcing a tough shot by CSU, Campbell appeared to come down with a defensive board for HPU with 0:34 remaining but was whistled for a foul sending the Bucs to the line where Outen made both attempts. Following a Panther miscue that forced High Point into a fouling situation, Moore sank a pair of shots from the charity stripe giving CSU a four-point advantage. Bridges scored another layup to keep High Point in the game, but Moore made his free throws with three seconds left to complete the scoring.
For the game, High Point made more field goals and more three pointers than CSU and also out-rebounded the Bucs, 37-33. However, Charleston Southern held a distinct advantage at the free throw line going 19-for-27 compared to 7-of-11 for the Panthers. High Point also committed 12 turnovers including seven in the second half.
High Point concludes its Big South "Beach Trip" on Monday when the Panthers travel to Conway, S.C., to face Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. in Kimbel Arena.
