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Post-Game Interviews•Â
Miles Bowman Jr. and
Haiishen McIntyre each posted a career high 19 points
• HPU outscored Longwood 34-22 over the final 10 minutes
• Panthers will advance to the semifinals and play the winner of No. 4 UNC Asheville/No. 5 Liberty Saturday at 1 p.m.
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BUIES CREEK, N.C.. – The High Point University men's basketball team continued its week-long conquering of adversity with a gutsy, 89-78 win over Longwood Friday in Big South Quarterfinal action.
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Already without Big South Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year
John Brown for the game, the Panthers also lost all-conference second team member and Lou Henson National Player of the Week
Adam Weary just five minutes into the game to a knee injury.
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Despite the obstacles, HPU's resilient bunch kept its composure and executed a precise game plan over the final 10 minutes of the game to earn the victory. With Longwood leading 56-55 with 10:21 to go, High Point outscored the Lancers 34-22 over the remainder of the game to advance to the semifinals.
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HPU will play the winner of No. 4 UNC Asheville/No. 5 Liberty tomorrow at 1 p.m.
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"This is a special group of kids," head coach
Scott Cherry said. "What we've gone through in the last week is difficult to explain. I feel really bad for those two kids [Brown and Weary], but to lose them in two separate instances, our team responded with a great team effort. I'm just happy for these kids. This group doesn't give in and the next man up is always ready."
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The Panthers received outstanding contributions from all spots on the roster Friday. Redshirt-junior
Miles Bowman Jr. continued to excel on the brightest of stages, pouring in a career-best 19 points (7-20 FG) and made a personal best 3-pointers. The Winston-Salem native also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
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Senior
Haiishen McIntyre tallied 14 of his career-best 19 points in the second half to go along with a season-high seven assists while grabbing four steals. Junior
Anthony Lindauer also brought it in the second half with 11 of his 14 points.
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Sophomore
Austin White added 14 points (4-7 FG) and three assists while senior
Lorenzo Cugini added 10 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers.
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HPU shot 51 percent (26-51) for the game, including a 54.2 percent (13-24) mark in the second half. The Panthers limited Longwood to 43.9 percent and just 25 percent (4-16) from long distance.
The Lancers held the edge on the glass (36-31) but High Point had an impressive 27-0 advantage in bench scoring.
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HPU stormed out of the gate with a purpose in the first half, scoring 19 of the game's first 21 points to go up 19-2 at the 14:53 mark of the stanza. Longwood responded with a 7-2 spurt to cut the lead to 12 (21-9), but back-to-back buckets from Bowman and Madison pushed the edge back to 16 (31-15) with 5:42 to go in the period.
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But from there, the Lancers closed the half on an 18-7 run, getting as close as two (35-33), before Cugini drilled a triple at the buzzer to send HPU into the half ahead, 38-33.
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Bowman nailed his third 3-pointer of the game to push HPU back ahead by eight (41-33) just seconds into the second half. Longwood registered seven of the next nine points to pull within one (43-42), but the Panthers got five in a row from Lindauer to go back up five (49-44) at the 14:06 mark.
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Longwood rallied back to tie it up at 49-49 and took their first and only lead (56-55) with 10:21 to play. But from there, HPU put together a run full of heart and hustle, using an 11-2 spurt to build its lead back to 10 (69-59) with 5:45 to go. The surge was capped by a Cugini 3-pointer from the wing.
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HPU extended the lead to 13 (79-66) on free throws from McIntyre with 2:18 to play anf the Lancers could not move closer than nine for the rest of the game.
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The win advances High Point to the Big South semifinals for the first time since 2011-12.
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