Liberty University escaped with a 61-56 win over the High Point University men's basketball team on Tuesday night in the Millis Athletic Center.

The Panthers slipped to 5-13 overall and 1-7 in Big South Conference play despite outrebounding Liberty (14-6, 5-3) by 13 and holding Flames' freshman sensation Seth Curry well below his nation-leading scoring average.

HPU junior Jourdan Morris finished with a career high 15 points to lead a trio of Panther scorers in double digits. Freshman Steadman Short added 14 points and junior Eugene Harris chipped in 11. Freshman point guard David Singleton pulled down 11 rebounds and handed out eight assists to lead High Point.

Anthony Smith, the Big South preseason Player of the Year, scored 24 points and sparked a late Flames rally scoring eight straight points in the closing minutes. Kyle Ohman tallied 19 points and recorded a team-high seven rebounds. Curry, who came in averaging 20.8 points per game, finished with just nine points for his second lowest point total of the season.

"We just have to continue to learn from situations and keep working to get better," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I feel like we are getting there and just need to find a way to make a key play. We made a few mistakes in the closing minutes and they made some big plays and you have to give them credit for doing that."

The Panthers got off to a good start surging in front 7-2, while holding a potent Liberty offense to just one basket in their first eight shots in the opening seven minutes of action. HPU also forced the Flames into five turnovers during the run. Liberty battled back and grabbed their first lead of the game, 10-9, on a three-pointer by Smith at the 10:07 mark.

From there both teams took a turn with the lead. Liberty moved in front 18-13 following back-to-back treys by Ohman. The Panthers rallied with a 6-0 run of its own behind a dunk and jumper by Short and a layup by Harris. The Flames held a four-point advantage heading into the final minute of play but a free throw from Jourdan Morris and a Nick Barbour triple with eight seconds left knotted the score at 25 for the halftime break.

High Point scored the first eight points of the second half including six by Morris to earn a 33-25 lead with 15:53 remaining. The Panthers pushed their lead to nine points (39-30) over the next three minutes of play. The Flames again mounted a comeback and evened the score at 43-43 using a 13-4 run.

Trailing 47-45, HPU scored 11 consecutive points to own a 56-47 advantage with 2:10 remaining. The Panther run started with lay-ups from Cruz Daniels and Morris followed by a three-pointer from Barbour. Short then scored on a jumper and a dunk to give High Point its largest lead of the game.

The Panthers would not score again nor would they attempt a shot as Liberty closed out the game with the final 14 points to rally for the dramatic victory.

High Point now begins a four-game road swing on Saturday against VMI at 1 p.m. The Panthers will face Liberty in a rematch next Tuesday in Lynchburg, Va.