Box Score BOX SCORE
Podcast Review
Postgame with Scott Cherry
Postgame with Jourdan Morris

Sophomore Nick Barbour scored 23 points and senior Eugene Harris scored 20 to lead the High Point University men's basketball team to an 83-77 win over Radford on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 1,750. With its fourth Big South win, HPU has matched its total from 2008-09.

"It means a lot for our program and the High Point community to be able to win a game over a great team like that in front of a highly vocal crowd," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "It shows what kind of home court advantage we can have every night, especially since all of the students aren't even back from the holiday break."

High Point improved to 8-6 overall and 4-1 in the Big South with the victory, which was their fourth in a row. The Panthers handed Radford their first loss in league play, as the Highlanders dropped to 8-6 and 4-1. High Point's 4-1 start is its second best since joining the Big South Conference in 1999-2000.

Radford center Art Parakhouski led all scorers with 29 points and pulled down 14 rebounds and Joey Lynch-Flohr scored 19 with seven rebounds for the Highlanders.

After going back-and-forth throughout the first half, High Point set the tone in the final seconds before the break. Down 38-33, HPU got the ball to Barbour, who was fouled by Radford's Phillip Martin while attempting a three pointer. Barbour drained all three free throws. Martin tried to answer with a three pointer, but missed and Jourdan Morris got the rebound. Tehran Cox took the ball up the court with under 20 seconds on the clock, drove to the lane and kicked it out to Harris, who hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give High Point a 41-40 lead at halftime. It stayed close but the Panthers led for the rest of the game.

Early in the second half, HPU was leading by a point before scoring the next three baskets to open up a margin. Cox hit senior center Cruz Daniels for a jumper in the paint and on the next possession, Cox blocked an Amir Johnson shot that led to a Harris trey. Harris hit another jumper to make it 52-44. Parakhouski then scored the next three baskets to put Radford back within one. The HPU attack didn't fade, however, as old-fashioned three-point plays by David Singleton and Barbour helped stretch the Panthers' lead back to 59-52 before Radford's Lazar Trifunovic hit two buckets.

Radford was within one point of HPU when Blake Smith hit a jumper with 5:41 left in the game. That's when the Panthers pulled ahead or good. The Panthers got a three-pointer from Morris and a dunk from Corey Law that gave them a 73-67 lead. The Highlanders battled back, however, and cut HPU's lead to two points with 40 seconds to go. That's when Daniels and Harris each hit a pair of timely free throws to seal the game for HPU.

Radford's big front court helped them to a 50-32 advantage in the paint, but the Panthers' bench provided the difference with 24 points, including 15 from Morris.

"I can say great things about the way the whole team played, but Jourdan Morris did a really good job off the bench," said Cherry. "He came in and scored 15 points on six-for-nine shooting and really gave us a spark."

High Point plays North Carolina Central for the second time this season on Monday when the Panthers travel to Durham, N.C. for a 7 p.m. matchup.