High Point University freshmen Nick Barbour and Steadman Short combined for 42 points in leading the Panthers to a 61-57 Big South road victory at Gardner-Webb on Saturday afternoon.

Barbour, who finished with a game high 28 including 18 in the second half, has now surpassed the 20-point mark in six consecutive games. Short had 14 points and also pulled down a team best seven rebounds.

High Point (8-17, 4-11 Big South) captured its third win in its last four games and won back-to-back games for the first time this season. The victory was also the Panthers third road win this year in Big South play. Gardner-Webb slipped to 11-14 and 7-8 and has now lost three straight and four of its last five.

"This was a big win in a very hostile environment," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "I was very proud of how the guys battled all day and earned an important conference win. I thought we got great contributions from our freshmen. Nick Barbour continues to play great and Steadman Short is really starting to play with some authority. We need to continue to work hard and build on the things we are doing well right now."

The defenses set the tone early in the contest as both teams struggled to put points on the board. The score was tied at 10 with 11:49 left in the opening period. Trailing 10-6, High Point used a 13-2 run to build a 19-12 advantage with 5:36 left to play in the half. Barbour scored seven points for the Panthers in the surge.

HPU maintained its edge and took a 29-23 lead into the halftime break. Gardner-Webb appeared to have cut the deficit to five on a putpack by Joshua Henley at the buzzer, but after a replay review by the officials the basket was disallowed.

The Runnin' Bulldogs raced out of halftime outscoring the Panthers 17-4 en route to seizing a 40-36 lead with 11:33 remaining. HPU scored just six points in the first seven minutes of the second half and GWU's scoring flurry included an 11-0 run led by eight points from Aaron Linn.

Gardner-Webb held the lead for much of the next eight minutes of play until David Singleton found Barbour wide open on the baseline for a three-pointer to even the score at 51 at the 3:13 mark. C.J. Hailey made a free throw on GWU's next possession, but Barbour answered with a layup to put High Point back in front for good.

The Panthers led by four (56-52) with 1:19 left following another Barbour basket. After trading single free throws, Linn drained a trey with 17 seconds remaining to pull the Bulldogs to within one at 57-56. Jacob Iati made one of two free throws to put HPU up by two before GWU junior Grayson Flittner drew a foul and stepped to the line with a chance to tie the game with a pair of free throw attempts with four seconds on the clock.

Flittner, the Bulldogs' leading free throw shooter at 85 percent for the season, made his first but missed the second allowing Ibrahim Appiah to grab the game-securing rebound for HPU.

Linn scored 21 points, including 15 in the second half, to pace the Runnin' Bulldogs. Henley finished with 14 rebounds to lead GWU to a 39-32 advantage on the boards.

High Point returns home for its next game on Wednesday when the Panthers welcome in-state rival UNC Asheville to the Millis Athletic Center at 7 p.m. HPU will play three of their final four regular season games at home.