HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's basketball team dropped an 87-79 contest to Queens in the Qubein Center on Friday night.
Abdulaye Thiam led HPU with 16 points while
Zack Austin recorded the near double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Site: Qubein Arena
Score: High Point 79, Queens 87
Records: High Point (8-2) Queens (8-2)
G.G. Smith: "Obviously we're disappointed with the result. I give Queens a lot of credit, I thought they came in ready to play, they have a really good team. Historically, they've had a lot of success in Division II, and they've moved up to Division I , and they've had some pretty good quality wins. They won at Bowling Green and they've played a couple teams tough, and we knew it was going to be a tough task for us."
High Point held a 6-4 lead at the media timeout with four points from
Bryant Randleman. Queens took a 9-8 lead, but a 6-0 HPU run that featured layups from
Zack Austin and
Ahmard Harvey put the Panthers back up, 14-9.
While the Royals ended the run with a three-pointer, HPU fired off five points with a
Bryson Childress triple and an easy layup for Harvey on a great find from Randleman. The Panther defense held Queens shooters to less than 30 percent from the floor compared to their own 61.5 percent in the first nine minutes of the opening half.
Six straight points from the Royals brought the visitors back within 21-18 with eight minutes left before the halftime break. Queens continued the run with a three-pointer and a driving layup to the basket to take the 23-21 lead, forcing the HPU timeout. But
Justin Taylor ended the drought with a drive the basket to tie the game before
Emmanuel Izunabor had a strong finish through contact at the rim and converted on the and-1 opportunity.
The High Point defense forced three turnovers in one minute of play to spur on the offensive effort.
Abdulaye Thiam buried his first triple of the night with 4:40 remaining in the half to give HPU the 32-27 lead.
The Royals battled back to get within 34-33 with 3:05 remaining in the half before taking the lead with 2:39 left. Another
Brock Williams layup put High Point ahead before Austin was fouled and made a free throw to take the 38-35 lead with under two minutes.
Austin ran the floor to beat the defense to the basket on back-to-back possessions, taking an open layup before making two free throws. HPU lead 42-36 with one minute remaining, forcing a Queens timeout. After a Royals layup, Randleman found an open lane to the hoop. While he did not finish the layup,
Alex Holt was there for the putback dunk to put HPU ahead, 44-38, heading into the halftime break.
High Point finished the half shooting over 51 percent from the floor, despite making just three three-pointers.
Queens opened up the half with a 4-0 run, but Austin buried a three-pointer before Randleman found another layup to push the Panther lead back to seven. The two teams continued to trade points back and forth until the Royals used a 9-2 run early in the second half to take back the 56-55 lead with 12:34 remaining.
The Royals pushed the lead to as many as five points, but another Thiam triple cut the lead back down to two points. After Queens tallied three more made free throws, a Randleman layup brought HPU back within 67-62 as the Panthers called the timeout with 8:55 left on the clock.
With Queens leading with less than eight minutes to play, Randleman dodged two defenders to get the open look at the hoop, bringing HPU back within six. Each team traded free throws and layups for the next several minutes, leaving High Point trailing by six with 3:43 left.
Trailing 80-69 with under two minutes left on the clock, Thiam sank back-to-back triples on each side of two Royal free throws to cut the deficit down to seven points with 1:16 remaining. Queens was 6-for-9 at the free throw line down the stretch to give the Royals a safe lead with time winding down.
Up Next: High Point travels to UNC Wilmington to continue non-conference action on Sunday, December 18
th. Tip-off in Wilmington is set for 2:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
