Box Score BOX SCORE

The High Point University men's basketball team came back from a 19-point deficit and had a chance to tie it at the buzzer but took a 94-91 loss to VMI on Saturday night at the Millis Center. Sophomore Nick Barbour scored 21 points, Eugene Harris scored 18 and Corey Law had 13 points and 15 rebounds.

"I always thought we had a chance to win it. Against a team like that you're never in it, you're never out of it," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry, referring to VMI's fast-paced style of play. "We made some stops and had some good looks at the end. We had our chances. I give my guys a lot of credit for not packing it in and battling back. We just didn't do the things we needed to do to win the ball game."

It was High Points first home loss this season and dropped the Panthers to 10-9 overall and 5-4 in the Big South. VMI improved to 6-12 and 2-7 in the Big South.

The Panthers started off the game with an alley-oop from Tehran Cox to Law and HPU led early. After the 10-minute mark, VMI's Stan Okoye hit a layup to give the Keydets their first lead at 29-28. VMI then got the ball back on a steal and Hunter Houston hit a three to make it 32-28. It went back and forth for several minutes. HPU got a three-point lead when HPU's David Campbell stripped Ron Burks and it led to a jumper by Barbour. VMI got its own three-point lead before a Cruz Daniels putback made it 41-40. The Panthers then got the ball back and a Daniels two-and-one made it 43-41 in favor of HPU.

The Keydets closed the first half with a layup from Okoye and a three-pointer from Michael Sparks to take a 54-48 lead into the break. HPU had a chance to score before the break but Harris's attempt went in and out.

The second half opened with a jumper from Daniels before VMI went on a run to open up its lead. The Keydets scored 15 straight points, including six from Adam Lonon, to take a 69-50 lead before Harris finally hit a layup and drew a foul for HPU.

Starting with Harris, HPU went on a 13-3 run that finished with another Harris layup to cut VMI's lead to 72-63. A Campbell trey two minutes later made it 74-66. HPU finally cut the lead down to seven points (79-72) when Barbour hit a pair of free throws with 4:35 on the clock and the Panthers cut it to six (81-75) on a Singleton free throw.

After a Barbour free throw, HPU got the ball back and Harris hit a layup that cut VMI's lead to 86-82.
With HPU over the limit, Harris fouled Okoye, who missed both free throws. The Panthers turned around with a layup from Barbour that made it 86-84. The Panthers had two chances to score but a Harris three point attempt and a Law alley-oop attempt both came up empty. Burks then hit a layup to make it 88-84 with 22.1 seconds on the clock.

The final seconds lasted several minutes, starting with a layup from Barbour that made it 88-86. VMI's Austin Kenon hit six free throws that were offset by a Barbour trey and a pair of free throws from Cox, making it 94-91 with four seconds remaining. HPU inbounded the ball and got it to a wide-open Barbour in the corner, but Barbour's buzzer-beater attempt banged off the far side of the rim.

VMI's Okoye led all scorers and had a double-double with 24 points and 14 rebounds, and Burks had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Kenon scored 20 points.

Law's double-double was the first of his career and Daniels (11 points, six rebounds) also scored in double figures along with Law, Barbour and Harris.

High Point has a pair of road games next week, first at UNC Asheville on Thursday night and then at Gardner-Webb on Saturday. HPU beat both teams at the beginning of the month at the Millis Center.