Box Score BOX SCORE
Scott Cherry's Postgame Comments

High Point University men's basketball team battled back from an eight-point deficit in the second half to take the lead but eventually fell, 82-68, to Winthrop on Saturday night in Rock Hill, S.C. Nick Barbour and Eugene Harris each scored 17 points for the Panthers.

"They shot 18 percent on three pointers coming into this game and shot 64 percent tonight," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "I give them a lot of credit, they made the shots they needed to make and won the game."

"I thought our guys went to the rim strong, Corey Law and Cruz Daniels both went to the rim strong, our guards went to the rim strong ... They made the shots they needed to make and we didn't make the shots we needed to make."

With the loss, High Point is 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big South while Winthrop improved to 3-4 and 1-1 in the Big South.

The Panthers we up in the early minutes of the game. HPU lost the opening tip-off, but the ball went right to Barbour and HPU scored the first point when Cruz Daniels put back Barbour's initial shot. Daniels came up with a huge rejection – his first of three blocks in the game – on a George Valentine shot two minutes later that led to a Harris three-pointer, putting HPU up 7-5.

Winthrop then scored nine unanswered points before a Corey Law dunk got the Panthers started on a run that made it 15-14 in favor of Winthrop. The Eagles then got on another run that made it 28-16 before Earnest Bridges scored on two field goals – the second a dunk from under the basket – and a Harris jumper made it 28-22. A Barbour three-pointer a minute later made it 30-25. The Eagles maintained their lead through the remainder of the half, getting nine points from Andre Jones and six from Robbie Dreher and had a 38-33 lead at the break.

After halftime, Winthrop's lead grew to eight before HPU came back to tie it at 43-43 on three-pointers from Harris and Barbour and a layup from Jourdan Morris. The teams continued to pace each other for the next several minutes. High Point finally gained the lead when Morris hit a layup from under the basket to make it 52-51 HPU.

A Law jumper made it 54-51 before the Eagles went on a run. Winthrop scored 12 unanswered points, including a pair of three-pointers from Reggie Middleton, to make it 63-54 in favor of the Eagles. That prompted an HPU timeout and Jairus Simms drained a three-pointer for the next score to get HPU moving again. Middleton shot another three to get the Eagles' lead back to nine (66-57) with just over three minutes to play.

The Panthers fought to get back within three points but Winthrop's Middleton was on fire, hitting a jumper, a three and a pair of free throws to get the Eagles back out in front by a score of 73-64. The Panthers tried to cut down Winthrop's late lead and got three points from Law in the final minutes but couldn't close.

Middleton scored a game-high 25 points on eight-of-13 shooting, including four-of-five from three-point range. Jones ended up with 13 for the Eagles.

High Point University closes out December with four-straight non-conference games on the road. HPU kicks off the road trip against South Carolina State on Dec. 9 in Orangeburg, S.C., before traveling to Marshall on Dec. 20, Youngstown State on Dec. 22 and North Carolina Central on Dec. 29.