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VIDEO: Brown's reverse alley-oop

Redshirt-sophomore John Brown scored 26 points and had a highlight-reel alley-oop in the first half as the High Point University men's basketball team got a 78-67 win over UNC Asheville on Saturday night at the Millis Center in High Point, N.C. Junior guard Devante Wallace scored 20 points for the Panthers.

"It was a great atmosphere in here tonight, with Richard Childress Racing here and Admissions Spirit Night. I'm glad we gave them a good win," said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. "We limited their offensive rebounds and took care of the ball. Those are the keys for us right now. The league is wide open so we've just got to get ready for Presbyterian on Tuesday."

High Point improved to 3-3 in conference play and sits a game behind leader Campbell (4-2) in the Big South North Division standings. The Panthers are 7-12 overall. UNC Asheville dropped to 10-10 overall and 4-2 in league play. The Bulldogs are tied for the South Division lead.

Brown's 26 points came on 11-for-16 shooting and he added five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. It was his fifth game in a row with at least 20 points. Wallace shot 4-for-7 from three-point range, his fourth game in a row with at least three treys. Freshman guard Jorge Perez-Laham had five assists, his fourth game in a row with at least four helpers.

UNC Asheville's Jaron Lane led the Bulldogs with 20 points and eight rebounds. Leading scorer Andrew Rowsey scored 13 points and Corey Littlejohn scored 10 points with five rebounds and four steals.

Brown went off for 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the first half. His highlight-reel dunk with 2:06 left in the first half made it 41-26. Wallace lofted a pass that Brown grabbed and reverse dunked as the crowd erupted. Brown hit two more buckets, his jumper with 38 seconds left making 47-33 at the break. Asheville had led by seven (22-15) when David Robertson hit a three-pointer with 11:13 left in the first half.

High Point opened up its largest lead – 18 points – when Wallace hit a two-pointer with his toe on the arc that made it 51-33 with 17:41 left in the game.

The Bulldogs made it closer in the last 10 minutes of play. After Brown hit a layup to make it 63-47, Asheville went on a 9-2 run to make it 65-56, cutting HPU's lead to single digits for the first time in the second half. HPU answered with Wallace's fourth three-pointer. The closest Asheville would get was within eight (69-61) on a long three-pointer by Rowsey with 6:24 remaining.

High Point forced 19 turnovers and outscored Asheville 25-9 off turnovers. The Panthers posted 19 assists with just eight turnovers. HPU shot 50.8 percent from the field while Asheville shot 52.3 percent.

High Point will look to keep momentum when it travels to Presbyterian College on Tuesday night. HPU is 6-1 in its last seven games against Presbyterian, including three road wins.