Box Score BOX SCORE

The High Point University men's basketball team got an eight point Radford lead down to one with under 15 seconds left on the clock, but the Highlanders made their last four free throws to take a 64-59 win on Saturday night at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va. Junior Nick Barbour scored 22 points for HPU, including 20 in the second half.

“We made some unforced turnovers and then we tried to force some shots when we had a chance to take the lead in the end,” said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. “We just have to get better at what we do and not make those kinds of mistakes.”

High Point fell to 5-9 overall and 2-3 in Big South play while Radford improved to 4-11 overall and earned its first Big South win, going to 1-4. It was the end of a seven-game road stretch for the Panthers.

Defense dominated the early minutes of the game as just three baskets were scored by the first media timeout. Corey Law scored HPU's first six points on a pair of layups and a pair of free throws. Just after the 10-minute mark the score was just 11-11 as David Campbell grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in for the Panthers. That came as part of a 9-0 HPU run that included a three-pointer from Shay Shine. The Panthers led 19-15 when Law hit a turnaround jumper 4:17 left and led 25-20 at halftime. HPU outrebounded Radford, 29-10, in the half.

The Highlanders came out and scored seven of the first nine points of the second half, tying the score at 27-27 when Johnathan Edwards completed a three-point play. The Panthers then scored the next nine points, capped by a three-pointer from Barbour and a long jumper by Campbell. Coming off the first media timeout of the half, Radford's Gorkem Sonmez was able to score in the paint to make it 36-29.

Radford was able to creep within two, draining 10 free throws to make it 42-40, before Barbour hit a three-pointer to make it 45-40 with under eight minutes left in the game. Radford took its first lead of the second half (48-47) when Sonmez hit a jumper. The Highlanders extended it to three with a Blake Smith bucket before Shine hit a layup for HPU.

The Panthers were within one point with under two minutes remaining before Tolga Cerrah hit a layup and Sonmez hit a three-pointer from the corner to make it 57-51. After Radford's Jeremy Robinson hit a pair of free throws to extend Radford's lead to eight, Barbour drained a three-pointer that made it 59-54 with 36 seconds remaining. Another Barbour trey and two free throws with 14.6 on the clock made it 60-59. Radford hit its final four free throws to make the final 64-59.

High Point outrebounded Radford, 44-27, in the game but shot just 36 percent from the floor. Radford made 28 of its 38 free throw attempts, including 20 points off free throws in the second half.

Senior Earnest Bridges returned from an injury to grab a game-high nine rebounds in 19 minutes for HPU.

Edwards and Robinson each scored 11 points to lead Radford. All of Robinson's 11 came on free throws. Tolga grabbed eight rebounds for the Highlanders.

HPU hosts a pair of home games next week, taking on Liberty on Thursday and VMI on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m. at the Millis Center. The game against Liberty will be televised on ESPN3.com and the game against VMI will be televised on WCWG.