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The High Point University men's basketball team cut an 11-point deficit down to a point in the closing minutes but couldn't tie it in a 69-62 loss to Steven F. Austin State in a Sears ESPN BracketBuster matchup on Saturday night at the Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. Nick Barbour scored 23 points and Shay Shine scored 21 for HPU.

"It was a tough road trip to come down into this gym but we had a chance to win in the end, down one point with two minutes to go and down three in the last minute," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "Unfortunately we didn't make one more play in the end. Our guys need to come out and get the shots they want at the end of the game. If they don't get the shots, they need to get offensive rebounds or make defensive stops. We'll learn from this and get better."

Barbour scored 21 points of his 23 points in the second half and hit all eight of his free-throw attempts. Shine went 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and had six assists, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

Stephen F. Austin was led by Taylor Smith's 16 points off the bench. He shot 8-for-8 from the floor and blocked five shots, including two in the last minute. Darius Gardner scored 15 points with seven rebounds and six assists and Antonio Bostic scored 11 points with 10 assists and five rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.

High Point fell to 11-17 overall while Stephen F. Austin improved to 15-11. The Panthers are 7-10 in the Big South Conference.

High Point's first two baskets were three-pointers by Shine and he hit another late in the first half. The pace was slow from the start, with the score just 15-14 in favor of Stephen F. Austin with under six minutes in the first half. There was a stretch of 5:10 in which just two baskets went in – a three-pointer by Bostic and a three by HPU's Branimir Mikulic – and there was a shot-clock violation by the Lumberjacks.

The score was tied with just over a minute left when SFA's Jacob Parker hit a jumper. After a Shine miss on the next possession, SFA turned it around for a fast-break layup by when Desmond Haymon dished to Smith, making it 28-24 at halftime.

Haymon hit a three-pointer coming out of the break to put SFA up by seven (31-24) and the Lumberjacks were able to extend it to 11 (45-34) with 14:01 remaining. A three-point play by Shine made it 45-37, and the score stayed there for 2:21 before Gardner hit all three sides of a three-shot foul to put the Lumberjacks up by 11 again.

High Point cut the lead back into single digits when Law hit a free throw and Shine hit a three-pointer to make it 48-41. The Panthers were within four (50-46) on a Barbour jumper with 8:11 remaining before Hal Bateman and Haymon hit consecutive three-pointers for SFA to make it double digits again.

Barbour scored six HPU points in a row interspersed by one Jonathan King free throw, getting HPU within three (57-54) on a pair of free throws with 5:21 to go.

HPU got within two (61-59) when Mikulic hit a wide-open three with just under three minutes to play. After a Smith dunk from the right side, Barbour hit a three-pointer that made it 63-62 – the closest the Panthers got – with 2:17 to go.

SFA responded with a Bostic jumper and called timeout with 1:42 remaining. The Panthers couldn't get a basket but benefitted when Bostic missed the front end of a one-and-one shortly after. High Point was driving but Smith came up with two huge blocks and SFA hit its last four free throws.

Stephen F. Austin dominated the paint, outscoring HPU 30-2, and held the Panthers to 36.5 percent from the floor. SFA was shooting 27.8 percent from three-point range going into the game but went 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) in the game.

The Panthers finish off their regular season on Wednesday when they host Campbell at 7 p.m. at the Millis Center. It will be Senior Night for Barbour and Shine. The Camels are 3-3 in their last six games, including a 100-86 loss to Northwestern State on Saturday.