HIGH POINT, N.C. - The High Point University men's basketball team clinched the Big South conference regular season championship after battling out an overtime thriller, 100-96, against Winthrop.
Abdoulaye Thiam led the way in scoring for the Panthers with 25 points on Wednesday night.
In Head Coach
Alan Huss' first season coaching the Panthers, he has guided the team to a Big South conference regular season title for the first time since the 2015-16 season after being predicted seventh in the preseason poll. Starting from scratch and forming a whole new team this past summer, High Point now holds an overall record of 24-6 which is the most wins ever in HPU men's basketball D1 history (1999-present) and the most wins by a first year head coach in all of HPU men's basketball dating back to the 1920s.Â
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Site: Qubein Center
Score: High Point 100, Winthrop 96
Records: High Point (24-6, 13-2), Winthrop (17-13, 8-7)
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Head Coach Alan Huss: "We obviously are very fortunate to get out with a win tonight. Our three-point shooting early in the game, especially in the first half, really covered up a lot of mistakes. We turned the basketball over entirely too much tonight and especially in some critical moments against pressure late. We made some really uncharacteristic plays for us as far as ball security went… I am just really proud of our guys. Proud of their effort all year and proud of them tonight."
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Before tip-off, HPU celebrated two of its seniors and their families,
Bryson Childress and
AJ Hoynack, on senior night.
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HPU got things going early as
Duke Miles found an open
Juslin Bodo Bodo down low for a layup to give HPU its first basket of the game.
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The Panthers started off 3-3 from the floor including back-to-back possessions with a made three-pointer from Miles and
Kimani Hamilton.
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HPU stayed a perfect 3-3 from the three-point line as
Kezza Giffa drained a triple to give the Panthers an 11-6 lead.
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Thiam ended an 8-3 scoring run from Winthrop by knocking down back-to-back triples to advance HPU's lead to five points, 21-16.
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HPU remained hot from beyond the arc as Hamilton drained his second and the Panthers' sixth three-pointer of the first half.
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Titas Sarguinas got in the scoring column with a drive to the basket to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game, eight points, 28-20 with 7:30 remaining in the half.
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Panther fans were up and on their feet after
Trae Benham drained a transition three-pointer for HPU's seventh triple of the game.
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Denzel Hines got in on the shooting clinic as he knocked down another Panther three-pointer from the top of the key to give HPU a 36-29 lead.
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Giffa swished 3-4 free-throws in the last 6.7 seconds of the first half to give the Panthers a 41-34 lead at the end of the first 20 minutes.
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Giffa, Hamilton and Thiam each led the way in scoring for the Panthers with eight points going into the second half.
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Thiam's hot hand continued into the second half as he knocked down his third triple of the game.
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The Panthers kicked off the second half on an 11-2 run after Benham and Thiam nailed the team's combined 11th three-pointer of the game.
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After hitting three triples in the first half, Thiam drilled his third three-pointer of the second half within the half's first four minutes to give him 17 points on the game and a Panther lead, 55-36.
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The Qubein Center was rocking after Hines drove down the lane for a powerful one-handed slam.
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Winthrop closed HPU's lead to single-digits, however, Hamilton brought the Panthers lead back up to double-digits, 74-64, after a strong take to the basket for two points.
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Bodo put an exclamation mark on the defensive end as he recorded back-to-back blocks.
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Hamilton earned himself a critical offensive rebound that resulted in an acrobatic layup to push HPU's lead to eight points, 84-76, with 1:13 remaining in the game.
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A 10-2 scoring run from Winthrop tied the game up at 86 all and forced an overtime period.
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A Miles transition layup gave the Panthers the lead again 91-90 with 3:14 remaining in overtime.
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After Winthrop scored two straight baskets, Benham sunk three free-throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt to tie the game up at 94 with 1:11 to play in the game.
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Miles forced a Winthrop turnover on an inbounds play which allowed him to draw a foul and knock down two monumental free-throws that put HPU back up by two points, 98-96, with 16 seconds left in overtime.
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"The difference was, Duke made a couple of winning plays down the stretch when we really needed him and that has been what Duke has done all year… He has a real knack for making difficult plays when it matters," said Huss.
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Thiam sealed the game with two made-free throws to help High Point pull out the overtime win, 100-96.
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With the win, High Point clinched the Big South conference regular season championship for the first time since the 2015-16 season under Head Coach Scott Cherry.
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"The last four years for me have been so many highs and lows so to end on a note like that just shows that if you keep doing the right thing, keeping putting your head down and working every day then things work out in the end," said Childress.
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The Panthers shot an impressive 32-26 from the free-throw line including going 10-11 from the line in the overtime period. HPU also shot an excellent 14-29 from the three-point line.
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Thiam led the way with 25 points on 5-12 shooting from the three-point line. Hamilton added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
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Despite only playing 1:35 of game time in the first half due to two early foul calls, Miles finished with 14 points in the second half and 17 overall to go along with five assists and three rebounds.
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Up Next: High Point will hit the road to Farmville, Virginia to take on Longwood University on Saturday, March 2 at 4:30 p.m. for the teams final game of the regular season. The Big South Tournament seeding will be announced Saturday night following all league play.
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#GoHPU
