SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA. – The High Point men's basketball team brought the surfboard trophy back to North Carolina on Wednesday night. The Panthers defeated Tennessee State, 77-72 in the battle for the SoCal Challenge Sand Division Championship.
Following the completion of the game, the team was presented the trophy, while
Bryant Randleman was named to the All-Tournament team and
Jaden House was named the Tournament MVP.
Site: Jserra Catholic HS
Score: High Point 77, Tennessee State 72
Records: High Point (5-1, 0-0), Tennessee State (4-2, 0-0)
The game opened with both team's matching for threes before the Tigers would leak with 10 straight points to go up 10-5.
Alex Holt put up a turnaround hook shot just outside the block to tag the Panthers 11
th point to make it 17-11, Tennessee State.
Great rebounding effort from
Ahmard Harvey throughout the game gave him eight rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass. Mid-way through the first half, a pull up jumper from Thiam nicked the front of the rim as Harvey crashed the boards to earn an and-one on his tip-in dunk, keeping HPU within four, at 15-19.
With eight minutes to go in the first half,
Bryson Childress' three-pointer on a cross court fast break pass cut the game to two.
Holding the game within three points with five minutes left in the first half, the Tigers knocked down two jump shots to extend their lead back up to seven.
Not losing focus, High Point answered with eight straight points, including a three-pointer from
Zack Austin to take the team's first lead of the night going into the second half, 38-37.
The Panthers momentum rolled over into the second half, opening with a backdoor dunk from Austin, paving way for two more baskets to follow.
Tennessee State hung around, closing the gap to one off a layup with 12 minutes left in play. A wide open three on the wing from Harvey made it 55-51 Panthers.
Tied up at 64-64 with just under six minutes to go, the Panthers went up two before the Tigers hit a three to go up one. Down by four at the three minute mark, Thiam finessed a layup in the paint to make it 68-70, TSU.
An HPU foul resulted in two made free throws for Tennessee State, but a clutch three from Austin put the Panthers within one, 71-72.
Just over a minute left in play, Harvey secured a defensive rebound to give High Point the possession after a missed layup from the Tigers. Finding Randleman, Randleman pushed the ball up the court to get an easy layup for the go-ahead basket.
An almost identical next possession, Tennessee State missed on a layup opportunity as Harvey secured the rebound. Dishing it out to Randleman, Randleman took it down the court to try for another layup. Gaining contact, he missed hard on the left-hand side of the glass, but retrieved his own rebound off the front of the rim, tapping it back in to get the three point lead, 75-73.
With one more opportunity, the Tigers threw up a three-point shot that missed and landed in Randleman's hands forcing Tennessee State to foul.
High Point closed out the game to win 77-72 over the Tennessee Tigers from the Ohio Valley Conference.
Up Next: High Point returns home to the Qubein Center for a matchup with Elon, on Wednesday, November 30
th at 7:00 PM.
