High Point freshman Nick Barbour  (pictured at right) scored nearly half of the Panther points in leading HPU to a 63-56 victory over archrival Winthrop University on Wednesday night in the Millis Athletic Center.

Barbour finished with 31 points including 18 in the second half as High Point (7-17, 3-11 Big South) earned its first Big South home victory over the year. The win also gave the Panthers their first season sweep over the Eagles (6-18, 5-9) in 10 years of Big South Conference play.

The reigning Big South Freshman of the Week, Barbour tallied his second consecutive 30+ scoring performance and six straight double-digit scoring night. Barbour also became the first Panther player with back-to-back 30-point games since Arizona Reid accomplished the feat in the final two regular season games last season.

In addition to Barbour's stellar performance, HPU got balanced play from the remainder of the team as five different players each scored six points in the game. Freshman Jacob Iati tallied career bests in points (6), rebounds (5) and assists (4) in reserve of starting point guard David Singleton, who was saddled with foul trouble for much of the second half. Junior Cruz Daniels hauled down nine rebounds to lead HPU and also blocked two shots to move into a tie for third place on the Big South all-time career list with 204.

Andre Jones was the lone Eagle in double-digits finishing the game with 14 points. Justin Burton handed out eight assists and Charles Corbin had seven rebounds to pace the Winthrop attack.

"I was very proud of our team and its effort tonight," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy, who has now guided the Panthers to all four of the programs wins over Winthrop. "It was a great performance and it felt wonderful to get a win at home. Hopefully we can use this victory as a springboard for this stretch run. This team is very resilient and found a way to earn a victory tonight. We keep getting better and that is all I can ask of this team."

Winthrop scored a three-pointer to open the game, but High Point scored the next six points and never trailed again as the Panthers led by as many as nine points in the first half and by as much as 16 in the game en route to the historic victory.

Five different players scored as the Panthers built a 16-7 lead through the first nine minutes of the opening half. Barbour and Iati keyed the surge as each drilled a three-pointer. Winthrop closed the deficit to two points less than three minutes later, but HPU scored six straight points to push the lead back to eight. A Iati jumper was the only points scored in the final 3:30 minutes of the first period by either team as High Point held a 32-23 lead at the half.

The Panthers raced out of the break with a 9-2 run to take a 41-25 lead with 15:42 to play. Barbour scored five points in the run which also included baskets by Singleton and Jourdan Morris. High Point maintained a double-digit advantage for much of the second half until Winthrop mounted a late charge with just under six minutes left on the clock. Trailing by 14, 60-46, the Eagles scored 10 straight points to pull within four. Cameron Stanley capped the rally with a three-pointer with 2:55 remaining.

High Point's defense would take over from that point holding Winthrop off the board for the rest of the game. Barbour, who was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe with 18 seconds left and Iati added another free throw to secure the win for the Panthers.

HPU next travels to Gardner-Webb for its next to last road game of the season on Saturday. The Panthers and Runnin' Bulldogs are scheduled to tip at 2 p.m. in a game being televised by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).