HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's basketball team battled through a tough game with the visiting Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs, falling short 73-80.
Site: Qubein Arena
Score: High Point 73, Gardner-Webb 80
Records: High Point (8-6,0-2) Gardner-Webb (7-7,2-0)
G.G. Smith: "Obviously we are a little disappointed in the result, we're on a little bit of a skid here and we have to figure out a way to get out of this funk. Coach Craft does a great job with his team and they are one of the toughest teams in the conference. The biggest difference in the game, I thought was, their bench out played our bench. Their bench had 33 points and ours had 12, and we just didn't have enough to sustain the comebacks."
The Panthers opened the game, taking an 8-4 lead through the first three minutes of play.
Zack Austin fired up the Qubein Center with a three ball to mark the Panthers first points.
Gardner-Webb answered with a run to take a nine-point lead at 20-11.
The Panthers gained momentum, chipping away at the score as
Abdoulaye Thiam scored 12 of his 23 points within a three-minute time frame. With the crowd still rocking,
Bryant Randleman lobbed one up for a reverse alley-oop dunk from Austin, tying the game at 35 all.
At the break, High Point led by one point, 39-38.
The Runnin' Bulldogs opened the second half with a 7-0 run, leading to a 10-point advantage over the Panthers to force an HPU timeout.
Fighting back, three straight buckets from
Ahmard Harvey helped High Point to their first lead of the half, to make it 62-59 at the nine-minute mark.
With four and a half minutes to go in the game,
Jaden House knocked down a three to tie it up at 65 all. In Gardner-Webb's next possession, Harvey picked up a steal to help convert to a House and-one basket to take a three-point lead.
The Runnin' Bulldogs converted on their next plays, taking the lead back for a five-point advantage, with just under two minutes to play.
Still down five, House's soft touch gets the floater to cut the six-point difference to four.
With seconds left in the game and the Panthers still down, the team was unable to get their final shot attempts to fall, coming up short 73-80 in the end.2
Up Next: High Point stays at home next week with a conference contest against UNC Asheville on Wednesday, January 4
th at 7:00 PM.
#GoHPU
