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The High Point University men's basketball team cruised to a 43-point win in its season opener, defeating Bridgewater College, 95-52, on Saturday night at the Millis Center. Senior guard Shay Shine scored 22 points to lead five players in double figures and junior Corey Law had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

"We started off really well and got into a little lull in the first half. The guys were excited to be out in front of the packed house and lost focus at times," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "In the second half we settled down and played much better defensively. Any time you hold a team to 25 percent from the field, 19 percent from three, you're doing some good things. Offensively, we got to the free-throw line 38 times, which we've spent a lot of time talking about. The only down side was the rebounding – we lost that battle."

Shine went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line and hit three treys en route to his 22 points and added five rebounds and five steals. Along with Shine and Law, HPU got double-figure scoring from sophomore Xavier Martin and freshman Devante Wallace, who each scored 14 points, senior Nick Barbour, who had 12 and sophomore Justin Cheek at 11. Law and junior #Jairus Simms each had four assists.

Bridgewater got 10 points from senior guard Cody Griffith and nine points and five boards from Aaron Adams. Forward Daniel McClain led the Eagles with six rebounds. Bridgewater got 16 men on the floor during the game.

Shine opened the game with a long distance three-pointer, immediately followed by another two treys by Barbour as the Panthers opened up a 16-4 lead. HPU hit four three-pointers in the first six minutes. High Point stretched the lead to 18 points (24-6) within nine minutes.

The "lull" Cherry referred to was a 10-0 Bridgewater run that brought the game back within eight. Griffith and Adams drained consecutive three-pointers to finish it, bringing the score to 26-16. Law finished a two-and one to get the Panthers going back in the right direction and High Point led by 23 points at halftime. He had his double-double by the break, with 12 points and 10 boards in 16 minutes.

After the break, the Panthers continued to pour it on in the second half. HPU led by 50 points when newcomer Landon Harris hit a three-pointer and had their largest lead of 52 points when Wallace hit two free throws with 3:22 remaining. Wallace scored 12 of his 14 points and Martin scored 11 of his 14 in the second half. Martin's came on perfect shooting in the period -- 3-for-3 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the line. The Eagles' Kyle Welty scored the last five points of the game to make the final 95-52.

The victory marked the third year in a row that HPU won its season opener. The Panthers have a quick turnaround for their second game.

"It's not ideal, we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning for our game at Purdue on Monday," said Cherry. "But this is the way it works in conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament, so it will help prepare our guys for those situations."

The Panthers take on the Boilermakers on Monday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big 10 Network and will be on the radio on 1230 AM-WFMR and on highpointpanthers.com