On a day when the all-time leading scorer in Big South history Reggie Williams was honored by VMI, High Point senior Arizona Reid made some history of his own in guiding the Panthers to an important 99-88 conference road victory on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.

Reid finished with a career best 42 points on 17-for-27 shooting from the floor and moved into fourth place all-time in Big South scoring history. With his second free throw at the 9:17 mark in the first half, Reid also became just the fifth player in league history to reach the 2,000 point mark ending the day with 2,028 career points.

In addition, Reid also pulled down 14 rebounds for his conference leading 19th double-double of the year and moved to within seven rebounds of 1,000 for his career. With seven more boards, he would become the first player in Big South history and only the 97th player in NCAA Division I history to have at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career.

With the victory, High Point ends the regular season at 16-13 overall and 8-6 in Big South play and finishes in sole possession of third-place in the league standings. The win also snapped a four-game road losing skid for the Panthers. VMI closes the regular season at 14-14, 6-8 and ends in a tie for fifth place with Coastal Carolina.

HPU scored the first seven points of the game and pushed their lead to 20-11 with 14:36 to play in the first period. The Keydets answered with the next seven points aided by a pair of turnovers by the Panthers to cut the lead to 20-18 less than a minute later. VMI continued to battle and earned their first tie of the game at 25-25 on a trey from Christian Hunter with 11:26 remaining.

High Point pushed their lead back to six points before a 10-0 run by VMI, including six points from Williams, gave the Keydets their first and only lead of the game at 38-33. Reid, who scored 26 points in the first half, finished with a flurry tallying 10 of HPU's final 12 points of the half including a three-pointer near the buzzer to send High Point into the half with a 53-47 advantage.

The Panthers blistered the nets in the opening half shooting 62.5 percent (20-32) from the floor including making 10 of 14 three-point tries (71.4 percent). VMI shot 46 percent in the first half, but went just 5 for 19 from long distance (26.3 percent).

Reid continued his strong play to start the second half scoring 15 of High Point's first 20 points including a stretch of nine straight points as HPU maintained its lead over VMI. A lay-up by Carl Josey with 7:38 to play pulled the Keydets to within two points, 73-71, but they would get no closer than that as High Point turned up the defense and handled the VMI pressure the rest of the way.

With VMI's focus on controlling Reid, the rest of the Panther lineup stepped thing up as HPU pushed a two-point lead to 15 (89-74) with 1:51 left on the clock. Mike Jefferson scored seven points in sparking a 16-6 run by HPU with Dave Campbell, Eugene Harris and Melvin Crowder all chipping in baskets.

The Keydets attempted a final charge, but Harris made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to thwart any VMI comeback attempt.

In addition to Reid's record-setting performance, Jefferson finished with 23 points and Harris added 20 giving the Panthers a trio of 20-point scorers for the first time since their last visit to Cameron Hall on Jan. 10, 2007. Campbell also tossed in 10 points for HPU. Jefferson handed out eight assists and became just the fifth player in Big South history with 200 or more assists in a season while Cruz Daniels swatted a pair of shots to set a new HPU single season blocked shot record with 71 this year.

Williams finished with 31 points to lead VMI followed by 27 from Chavis Holmes and 10 by Travis Holmes. Chavis and Williams shared the team rebounding honors with seven each.

"Tonight was a great team effort especially on the defensive end in the second half," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I thought our guards played smart and with poise against their press for most of the game. It also helps to have a player like Arizona, who showed today what a special player he really is. We are thrilled to get the win and be able to open the Big South tournament with a game at home."

Both teams now turn their attention to opening round action of the Big South Conference playoffs that begin on Tuesday night. High Point, the No. 3 seed, will host sixth-seed Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. in the Millis Center while fifth-seed VMI travels to No. 4 seed Liberty for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Vines Center.

NOTE: Complete tournament pairings are attached above as "Game Notes"