The High Point University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 71-63 decision to Presbyterian College Saturday night at Templeton Arena.

High Point (5-16, 1-10 Big South) had three players in double digits but was unable to overcome a late scoring drought in suffering its seventh consecutive loss of the season. Presbyterian picked up its third consecutive home win and improved to 9-12 overall and 6-4 in the Big South.

Nick Barbour scored 18 points to lead the Panthers marking his third straight double-figure performance and fifth in the last six games. Eugene Harris tallied his fifth consecutive double-digit outing with 16 points and Steadman Short finished with 15 and seven rebounds. David Singleton led the team with eight rebounds and five steals.

Al'Lonzo Coleman paced Presbyterian with 17 points and six rebounds. Pierre Miller added 16 including 13 in the second half during PC's late run.

"We are still trying to find consistency every night," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We have to keep fighting and be more resilient. I thought we may have given into some fatigue and pressure late in the game. We will go back to work and be ready to play again on Monday night."

Presbyterian raced out to an early 8-2 in the first three minutes of the game. HPU battled back and knotted the score with six straight points. The Panthers then earned their first lead at 15-14 when Nick Barbour finished off an old-fashioned three-point play with 8:37 left in the half. High Point's defense held PC scoreless from the field for an eight minute stretch en route to taking the lead.

The two squads went back-and-forth for most of the remainder of the period with neither team leading by more than four points until PC used a 12-2 run in the closing minutes to grab a 38-28 advantage. Eugene Harris drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to make the halftime score 38-31 in favor of Presbyterian.

The Blue Hose pushed their lead to eight points early in the second half before High Point answered with a 13-1 run to regain the lead 50-46 with 11 minutes to play. Steadman Short opened the run with a layup followed by free throws from David Singleton. Harris then made back-to-back buckets ahead of a pair of Barbour baskets to cap the rally.

From that point, PC capitalized on a sluggish Panther offense using a 19-2 run to seize control of the momentum and the game. During the Blue Hose surge High Point struggled through a five minute scoreless stretch as PC moved in front 65-52. HPU continued to compete and closed the gap to just seven points 70-63 after a trey from Harris, but just ran out of time to complete the comeback.

The Panthers conclude their current four-game road swing with a game on Monday night at 7 p.m., against Charleston Southern.