HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University men's basketball team welcomed La Salle University to the Qubein Center for the first time. The Panthers took care of business and defeated the Explorers 84-72.
Conrad Martinez had himself a night scoring a career-high 26 points on 7-12 shooting from the field with a career-high five made threes. Martinez also added seven points from the charity stripe going a perfect 7-for-7.
"Good win and great crowd, which we're really thankful to have over the holiday break," Head Coach
Flynn Clayman stated. "With the students gone the crowd gave us some good energy today. The guys tried to really buy in on the defensive end. We did a fantastic job on the glass, especially with Cam being out from an illness right now. It was a good bounce back win against a DI team since the App game and I'm proud of their effort."
Site: Qubein Center
Score: High Point 84, La Salle 72
Records: High Point (10-3), La Salle (4-8)
High Point opened the game from the perimeter, knocking down three threes in the first possessions to give HPU a 9-3 lead.
Owen Aquino was one of the players to drain a three, knocking down his first of the season.
A
Caden Miller layup at the 12-minute mark gave the Panthers a seven point lead, 16-9. La Salle continued to trail but stayed within arm's reach. Aquino highlighted the first half throwing down a one-handed poster dunk over two defenders to make it 23-17 with eight minutes to go in the half.
The Spain duo continued to thrive as Martinez followed up Aquino's poster dunk with a step-back three.
Chase Johnston extended HPU's lead to 12 with an automatic three after entering the game. High Point led 31-19 with five minutes to go before the break.
La Salle closed the gap the six at the half as HPU led 35-29.
High Point opened the second half similar to the first, draining three threes with two from Martinez and one from
Braden Hausen, boosting HPU's lead back up to double-figures, 44-34.
Martinez gave the Panthers their largest lead of the night, 50-36 picking up a steal and driving in for a layup to force an Explorers timeout.
High Point maintained a 10-point advantage through the next five minutes of action. La Salle made it a seven point game 58-51 with nine minutes left on the clock.
Rob Martin answered with a corner three to go back up 10.
With eight minutes to go,
Scotty Washington joined the 1000 career points club after getting fouled and going to the line to go 2-2. He later went on to score a layup and a turnaround jumper to finish the night with seven points.
In the last five minutes of the game, High Point was able to hold its double digit lead and win 84-72 for the 12-point victory. Aquino finished with 10 points and eight rebounds while Hausen added 11 points for a new career-high.
UP NEXT:
High Point welcomes Bryant University to High Point on Monday, December 22 at 7:00 p.m. inside the Qubein Center.
#GoHPU x #OnTheProwl
