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The High Point University men's basketball team took an 86-61 loss to No. 1 seed UNC Asheville in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament on Wednesday evening at Kimmel Arena in Asheville, N.C. Senior guard Shay Shine led the Panthers with 22 points and six rebounds.

"I've got to give credit to Asheville, they were the No. 1 seed playing on their home court and they played that way," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "I'm going to miss our two seniors, they have been great for this team. They left the program in better shape than when they arrived and they're going to go on to good pro careers. We've got good players coming back and we're bringing some players into the program who are really talented. I'm excited about the future of the program."

Shine shot 7-for-15 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the line in 37 minutes of play. Freshman guard Devante Wallace was the only other Panther in double figures, hitting three treys en route to 12 points on the night and redshirt-junior forward Corey Law had eight points and eight rebounds. Leading scorer Nick Barbour was heavily guarded throughout the game and scored just seven points with one three-pointer.

Asheville guard Chris Stephenson led five Bulldogs in double figures with 18 points and added seven rebounds. Forward Jeremy Atkinson had 16 points and eight rebounds. Point guard J.P. Primm scored 15 points with six assists and went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

UNC Asheville scored the first seven points of the game and led, 10-3, when Dickey hit a three-pointer with 17:31 to go in the first half. It was 12-4 when Justin Cheek tipped in a Barbour miss, igniting a 10-0 run for the Panthers. Law made a great move in the paint, floating it in before Shine and Wallace both hit three-pointers to make it 14-12 in favor of High Point.

The Panthers were up, 16-14, before Primm hit a trey and Atkinson threaded a great pass down low to Quinard Jackson, who hit who hit a layup to make it 19-16. The teams went back and forth and High Point led, 23-21, on Barbour's lone three-pointer, but Asheville finished the half on a 13-2 run. Stephenson hit a floater at the buzzer to make it 34-25 at halftime.

The first two points of the second half were a pair of free throws by Barbour and the Panthers got Asheville's lead down to six points twice early in the second half. A Shine jumper from the right made it 37-31 with 16:54 remaining. Primm then hit a jumper for Asheville before Shine went up the lane for a basket to make it 39-33.

Stephenson hit a jumper that started a 13-2 run and UNC Asheville led by double-digits the rest of the way. Law hit a pair of free throws that made it 52-47, but Asheville scored 12 of the next 14 points, capped by a Jaron Lane slam that made it 63-37.

High Point and Asheville played evenly over the last seven minutes of the game, but the Panthers could never make a significant dent in Asheville's lead. Shine scored 10 of High Point's last 17 points, including two three-point plays.

High Point finished the season 13-18 overall and went 6-4 in the last 10 games. UNC Asheville improved to 22-9 and advanced to the Big South Semifinals against either Charleston Southern or Liberty on Thursday.