DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – Four players finished in double-figures as the High Point University men's basketball team battled non-conference opponent, the University of Illinois Chicago in Daytona Beach, Fla., Thursday evening in the first game of the Boardwalk Battle.The Panthers won their first-ever matchup against UIC, 90-80, for HPU's second straight win.
Cam'ron Fletcher recorded a career-high in points with 27, shooting the ball 9-12 from the field, 2-4 from the three-point line and a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line. It is the third game Fletcher has recorded at least 20 points in a game this season.
Chase Johnston and
Scotty Washington both recorded a season-high in points. Johnston recorded 18 points on 6-14 shooting from the three-point line and Washington finished with 12 points. Johnston picked up a team-high five steals to match his career-high.
Rob Martin was the other Panther to record double-figures as he tallied 14 points, shooting 6-6 from the free-throw line for Martin's fourth game this season scoring in double-digits. Martin also tied his season-high in assists with eight and finished with three steals.
Head Coach Flynn Claymann: "We did a good job tonight finding a way to beat a good Missouri Valley program on a neutral floor. We have several things to clean up and continue to get better but all in all our guys' willingness to play hard defensively, forcing 18 turnovers, and sharing the ball with 19 assists was the difference tonight. We look forward to the challenge of playing a well coached, hard playing UIW team that took Southern Indiana down to the wire a game ago."
Site: Ocean Center
Score: High Point 90, UIC 80
Records: High Point (5-1), UIC (3-2)
The Panthers struck on the scoreboard first.
Terry Anderson snatched down an offensive rebound after a missed three-point attempt from
Chase Johnston, and followed the missed shot with the second-chance opportunity bucket inside the paint.
After Johnston missed his first two attempts from beyond the arc,
Rob Martin found him near the left wing for a wide-open three-pointer, and this time connected for three to put the Panthers up 5-3.
Fletcher found his rhythm early, knocking down back-to-back baskets from deep, and then earned his 8th straight point, and 10th total point on the very next possession with a bucket right at the basket to give HPU its largest lead of the game, 13-5. All three scores were assisted by Martin.
It was a 10-2 run from HPU to give the Panthers a 25-16 lead with 8:19 remaining in the first half.
Scotty Washington kicked the ball to Johnston, who was left open from the top of the key, and made the defense pay for giving him space by draining his second three-pointer of the half. Then, on the following possession, it was Johnston who repaid Washington by swinging the ball to the corner as Washington knocked down his second three-ball of the season.
HPU was draining three-pointers as Johnston's hot hand continued as he splashed down the team's sixth three-pointer and his third of the half with a deep triple from the top of the key for the 28-19 lead.
A beautiful attack from Martin was followed by him dropping a beautiful pass to Fletcher, who cut baseline, and flushed home the powerful one-handed slam as HPU pushed its lead five, 30-25, with 4:37 remaining in the half. The assist was Martin's fifth of the game up to that point.
Conrad Martinez drove to the basket and lobbed the ball to a soaring Fletcher as he flew in the air to catch and finish the two-handed jam for two points to put the Panthers' lead back up to three, 34-31.
At the end of the first half, High Point held the lead, 41-39. Fletcher led all scorers with 17 points, shooting 5-7 from the field, 2-3 from the three-point line and 5-5 from the charity stripe. Johnston contributed nine points on 3-7 shooting from deep, and Washington added seven points and two assists.
The Panthers were a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line heading into halftime. The team also shot 44.8 percent from the field overall and 40 percent from the three-point line.
Martin started the second half with a great drive to the basket and finish for the team's first points of the half and Martin's first bucket of the game.
Martin tracked down a long rebound after a missed three-pointer from UIC, pushed the ball up the court and kicked the ball to Johnston on the left wing as he continued his strong shooting performance with his fourth three-ball of the game to put him in double-digits with 12 points and extend HPU's lead, 47-41.
After not scoring a single basket in the first half, Martin recorded his second bucket of the game with a tough left-handed finish at the rim over two defenders for two points and the Panthers lead, 49-41, with 17:53 remaining in the game.
The Panthers ended their drought of four and a half minutes of not scoring a basket. Johnston jumped on a loose ball, pushed the ball ahead to Martin as he led the three-on-one fast break, which resulted in an easy layup for Washington.
Great ball movement from HPU eventually found the hands of Washington on the left wing as he extended the Panthers' lead to their largest of the game, 11 points, 62-51, with 11:06 remaining in the second half after burying his second three-pointer, his most in a game this season.
The Panthers used some more fantastic ball movement as
Owen Aquino threw an alley-oop to Fletcher, who threw down the two-handed high-flying finish for his first two points of the half after scoring 17 in the first half, to push open the lead for HPU, 64-51.
Martin became the fourth HPU player to get into double-figures after knocking down a jumper in the painted area over two defenders to make it 73-58, HPU.
Johnston tallied two more long-range triples to give him a season-high in points with 18 and three-pointers with six. Aquino shot the ball to the right corner to Johnston, who splashed home the three-ball. Then it was
Conrad Martinez, who pushed the ball in transition and handed it off to Johnston, and knocked down the three-pointer to extend HPU's lead back over double-digits, 80-68, with 3:30 remaining in the game.
Johnston has recoded five or more made three-pointers in back-to-back games, and has knocked down at least four three-pointers in four games this season.
It was the Aquino-Fletcher connection that had been strong all game that gave Fletcher his career-high in points with 27. Anderson gave the ball to Aquino, who looked up and found Fletcher up top again for the alley-oop two-handed jam with 2:03 remaining and an HPU, 84-73 lead.
Fletcher's previous career-high was 25 points, which came earlier in the season against Averett.
A perfect six for six from the free-throw line in the final 52 seconds sealed the game and the win for the Panthers, 90-80, to advance HPU's record to 5-1 on the season.
High Point forced 18 turnovers and held UIC to 16.7 percent from the three-point line while the Panthers shot 46.2 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from the three-point line and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
Up Next:
The Panthers will compete in the championship game of the Boardwalk Battle in Daytona Beach, Fla. against the University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday, November 22nd at 7 p.m. in the Ocean Center. The game will be streamed on BallerTV.
#GoHPU x #OnTheProwl
