High Point finished the game with a 5-0 run capped off by a Cruz Daniels put-back with 2.1 seconds remaining to give the visiting Panthers their first every victory at the Winthrop Coliseum by a 42-40 margin on Wednesday night.

HPU (5-9, 1-3 Big South) snapped a four-game losing skid with the thrilling Big South Conference road win. With the loss, Winthrop falls to 2-11 overall and 1-3 in League play.

Steadman Short and Daniels led the way scoring nine and eight points, respectively.  On the glass, Short posted a game-high 11 rebounds while David Singleton grabbed a personal best 10 boards.  Singleton also had a game-high five assists in the contest. 

For the Eagles, Cameron Stanley had a game-high 10 points followed by Raymond Davis with nine and Reggie Middleton with eight.  Stanley along with Charles Corbin had a team-high seven rebounds.

"We played extremely hard and the guys stuck to the game plan," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I am very proud of this group and glad to see them finally earn a positive result for all their hard work in practice over the past three weeks. I thought we did a good job of controlling the ball and defending them on every possession. This was a great win for our guys and the program."

In a first half dominated by defense, both teams struggled to find a consistent flow on the offensive end. Winthrop raced out to an 8-1 lead as the Panthers missed their first nine shot attempts and committed six turnovers in the opening ten minutes of play. Jourdan Morris made the first HPU basket at the 9:44 mark.

High Point fought back and eventually knotted the score at 17 all. Earnest Bridges tallied back-to-back baskets including an emphatic dunk on the game tying bucket. The two squads traded scores over the final minute of play and a jumper by Raymond Davis with four seconds left in the half sent the Eagles into the break with a 21-19 lead.

Both teams made just eight baskets in the opening half with Winthrop shooting 33 percent (8 of 24) from the field and HPU finishing at 32 percent (8 of 25). The difference in the period was the fact that the Eagles hit a trio of three-pointers compared to just one for the Panthers.

HPU took its first lead of the game at the 16:03 mark in the second half on a free throw by Short. The Panthers held Winthrop scoreless for the first four minutes of the half and limited the Eagles to just one field goal through the first 13 minutes of play.

Winthrop battled back and took a 28-24 lead on a three-pointer by Stanley with 12:10 remaining. From that point, HPU scored the next nine points to earn their largest lead of the game at 33-28. The Eagles answered with a 10-2 run of their own to move back in front at 38-35 with just over three minutes left in the game.

Short hit a pair of free throws to trim the deficit to one before Charles Corbin pushed the Eagle back up by three with 1:42 on the clock. Winthrop would not score again as the Panthers mounted a final charge.

With 1:15 remaining, Eugene Harris drilled a three-pointer from the deep left corner to tie the game at 40. Harris had missed his first seven trey attempts of the night before connecting on the equalizer. After Daniels rebounded a missed three-pointer by Winthrop, HPU called timeout to set up the final possession.

Singleton held the ball at the top of the key until just under 10 seconds and then drove the ball hard into the lane where his attempt at the game winner bounced off the rim. Daniels swooped in and collected the rebound and quickly tossed in the short jumper in front of the basket. Winthrop's game winner at the buzzer fell well short.

High Point shot 35 percent for the game while holding Winthrop to 26 percent shooting. The Panthers also earned a 37-32 advantage on the glass.

The Panthers' next game returns them to the friendly confines of the Millis Center for the first time in nearly a month as High Point hosts Big South newcomer Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be the second-half of a doubleheader with the HPU women's team, who face Radford at 4 p.m.