Box Score BOX SCORE

The High Point University men's basketball team got its first road win of the season with an 80-69 victory over Tennessee Tech on Wednesday night at the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tenn. HPU junior Nick Barbour led all scorers with 18 points.

"We had a lot of guys step up tonight to get this win," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "Corey Law had another big game, Nick and Shay Shine do what they do. Jairus Simms came out in the second half and hit some huge baskets for us. It was a total team effort. I'm proud of my guys that they came out on the road and beat a good team like this."

High Point improved to 5-3 overall while Tennessee Tech 2-4 overall. The Panthers are 2-0 in Big South play.

Behind Barbour, junior guard Shay Shine scored 13 points and grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds and sophomore forward Corey Law scored 15 points with seven rebounds. Senior Tehran Cox scored in double-figures for the third game in a row with 13 points.

For Tennessee Tech, Kevin Murphy was the leading scorer with 17 points and Alfred Jones had 11.

High Point scored the first 12 points of the game on a layup by Law, a three-pointer and a jumper by Shine and a pair of free throws and a three-pointer by Barbour. Two three-pointers by Cox made it 18-5 eight minutes into the game. The Panthers held a double-digit lead for most of the half until Tennessee Tech's Murphy hit a three-pointer with under 30 seconds left to make the halftime score 34-25.

Tennessee Tech's Jones scored the first two baskets after halftime – first on the opening possession and next after a turnover. After Barbour hit a jumper, Murphy hit a trey and a pair of free throws to close the gap to 36-34.

Murphy tied the game at 41-41 with 14:05 remaining. After the teams traded free throws, the Panthers got back to a four-point lead (47-43) when Jairus Simms hit a jumper and drew a foul. He didn't hit the free throw, but Law got the rebound and laid it in. The Panthers led the rest of the way. A turnaround jumper by Simms a minute later made it 51-43, and a jumper from Law got HPU's lead back to 10. The Golden Eagles used good free-throw shooting to get back to 61-56 before a jumper by Maxwell got HPU's lead back to seven.

HPU led by 10 on a basket by Law. Three free throws by Cox with 1:38 remaining made it 76-63. The teams went back and forth in the final minute, with HPU's lead never dropping below nine en route to the 80-69 victory.

"This win should give our team a lot of confidence in road games, both on the upcoming trip and when we play road games in the league," said Cherry.

The Panthers have a 10-day break before playing Wofford on Saturday, Dec. 18, in Spartanburg, S.C. HPU plays at Georgia three days later.