Box Score BOX SCORE

The High Point University men's basketball team could never find a scoring rhythm, taking a 79-57 loss to Old Dominion on Monday night in Norfolk, Va. Junior Shay Shine led the Panthers with 13 points, junior Nick Barbour scored 11 and freshman Du'Vaughn Maxwell had eight points and nine rebounds.

"We gave up a lot of easy points early and they hit shots," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "We knew they would be long and athletic and make plays. I thought we could mix it up defensively but our offense was a bigger problem. We turned it over, they got 16 points off turnovers in the first half, and the game got away from us."

High Point is 1-1 on the season with the loss while Old Dominion improved to 1-1. The Monarchs were led by Frank Hassell's 15 points and 13 rebounds and Ben Finney and Trian Iliadis each scored 12 points.

Old Dominion got out to a big lead in the first half thanks to 16-for-28 shooting from the floor, including 6-for-11 from three-point range. The Panthers meanwhile, shot 7-for-29 from the floor in the first half, with many of those shots highly contested. A three-point play by Old Dominion's Kent Bazemore made it 11-3 before Barbour hit a jumper near the three-point line to make it 11-5. On the ensuing play, Barbour stole the ball and dished it to Shine for a fast-break layup that made it 11-7.

The Panthers struggled with fouls early, taking five in the first six minutes as Old Dominion pushed its lead to 19-7 on a three-pointer by Finney. HPU freshman Justin Cheek came in and hit a three-pointer to make it 19-10 and a three-pointer by Maxwell made it 22-12 shortly after that. For the next several minutes, the basket seemed to have a lid on it for the Panthers. Freshman guard Xavier Martin finally hit a pair of free throws to break the drought at with 7:04 left in the first half but the Monarchs answered with another three-pointer from Iliadis that made it 34-14.

The Panthers started to hit more shots in the final minutes of the first half but couldn't cut into ODU's lead. Martin hit a trey to close out the half for HPU, with the Monarchs ahead 48-23.

The second half started sloppy, with the teams combining for 10 fouls in the first 4:25. ODU scored the first eight points of the half to make it 56-23 and the Panthers were whistled for eight fouls before scoring. Barbour hit a layup at 14:22 for HPU's first basket but ODU's lead had grown to 60-26 shortly after.

With Old Dominion way out front, the Panthers started to make some plays and outscored ODU, 34-31, in the second half. Old Dominion's highest lead was 35 points with just under seven minutes left in the game and HPU outscored ODU, 23-10, from then out. Shine scored eight of those points on a pair of treys and a pair of free throws and Martin closed out the game with a layup and a pair of free throws. Five of HPU's nine field goals in the second half were three-pointers.

"We're going to take something out of this game regardless of the result," said Cherry. "We're trying to get to the level of Old Dominion. They have gone to the NCAA Tournament, they have won games in the NCAA Tournament, they're picked to win their league again this year. That's where we want to be in a couple of years. We want to be on the same level as a team like Old Dominion."

High Point University is back at the Millis Center on Friday at 7 p.m. when the Panthers host Gwynedd-Mercy. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.