An exciting and hard fought college basketball game was overshadowed by a controversial call at the buzzer as High Point (14-12, 6-6 Big South) suffered a heartbreaking 56-55 loss at Coastal Carolina (13-12, 6-6) on Monday night in Kimbel Arena.

Leading by one, 55-54, following a layup from Mike Jefferson the Panther defense scratched out a strong defensive stand on Coastal's final possession forcing a tough shot by Logan Johnson. Johnson's shot rattled out but Anthony Breeze fought for the rebound and tipped it back in to put CCU up by one with three seconds remaining.

Out of timeouts, Jefferson got the inbounds pass for High Point and raced down the court driving the ball all the way to the basket where he initially drew a foul that was whistled on Coastal Carolina's Jack Leasure just before the final horn sounded. Jefferson, who holds a free throw percentage of 75 percent for the season, appeared to be headed to the line with a chance to win or tie the game. However, following a conference by the three game officials it was decided that the foul had allegedly occurred after the clock hit 0:00 thus giving the victory to the Chanticleers.

HPU senior Arizona Reid led the way for High Point finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds. With his performance on the glass, Reid passed former Campbell standout Joe Spinks (1990-94) to become the Big South's all-time leader in rebounds with 960. Sophomore Eugene Harris added 14 points with Jefferson chipping in six points and six assists.

Leasure, playing in his final home game for Coastal Carolina, led the Chants with 15 points followed by 13 from Phil Wallace and 11 by Mario Sisinni.

High Point used an 11-0 run early in the first half to grab a 17-7 lead with 10:54 to play. Coastal answered with eight straight points of their own to close the deficit to two just four minutes later. The Panthers closed the half on a 5-1 surge to own a 26-21 halftime lead. Both teams struggled to find any offensive consistency with High Point shooting 31 percent from the field and Coastal connecting at just a 37.5 percent clip.

The Chanticleers outscored the Panthers 8-3 during the first three minutes of the second half to force the first of nine ties in the second half at 29-29. From that point, the two squads traded turns with the lead with neither team holding more than a four-point advantage the rest of the way.

Harris drilled a three-pointer with 4:30 left to play giving High Point a 53-50 lead. Leasure trimmed the CCU margin to a point with a pair of free throws at 2:31. Sisinni then made a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left to give Coastal a lead at 54-53 setting up the final dramatic series. All of Coastal Carolina's points in the final 6:38 of the game came via the free throw line except for Breeze's game-winning tip-in.

High Point closes out their current three-game road swing with their final non-conference game of the season on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Towson University.