HPU men snap losing streak
Jan. 15—HIGH POINT — For the first time in more than a month, the High Point University men’s basketball team experienced victory Saturday night.
The Panthers led by double digits late in the first period, but didn’t surrender when Presbyterian pulled away in second. Presbyterian won 64 to 56 inside the Qubein Center. It snapped an eight-game losing streak, and posted its first win in Big South Conference after five other attempts.
G.G. Smith, HPU coach said that “it’s about time.” Smith said. “It has been a while since we got a win. It’s been six weeks.” We are happy to have won and not been 0-for at the conference.
The Panthers are now 9-9 and 1-5 in league. They had not won since Furman was defeated and improved to 8-1 Dec. 6.
Bryson Childress said, “It’s been eye opening to say the least.” “Like my grandpa or my grandma used the saying, the highs and lows shouldn’t be too high. You can get a bit too much self-esteem when you’re 8-1 and have a lot of social media buzz. This was a harsh reality check.
“I like the manner we’ve responded. Even though we’ve lost the last few games, we’ve also had some of the most difficult practices in recent weeks. Everything might have been better if we could get a few baskets in the right times in key games. “… We’ve had our lows, our highs, and we’ve been fighting all the way.”
Jaden House led the Panthers scoring 18 points. Abdoulaye Thiam had 16, Bryant Randleman had seven, Ahmard Harvey had six and Emanuel Izunabor had six. Harvey had 10 rebounds.
The Panthers led 18-13 at halftime. With just 10:19 left, HPU scored 21 of the next 25, giving them a 34-22 lead with 2:12 remaining. HPU scored nine points in succession, while the Blue Hose scored on nine possessions. HPU had nine consecutive points. This gave them a 26-20 lead.
After a blocked shot by Bryant Randleman, a layup that followed a turnover, and a Randleman bucket after a foul on the fast break, the Panthers held the lead at 21-20.
Smith said, “We sat down in the first half and guarded exceptionally well.” “We finally had some good defensive stretches.”
HPU led the half-time score by 34 to 26, and won the first half bucket. PC scored eight points straight on two 3s, a layup to draw within one and a layup.
With 8:38 remaining, the Blue Hose pulled within one point twice as close as the Panthers. The second time was 48-47. HPU’s next eight points were scored by HPU on a House drive to the basket. Thiam made two of three free shots after Presbyterian had made it 50-50 just over a minute. A House drive to and from the basket saw Thiam make one of four fouls Presbyterian committed. HPU was up 58-48 at 4:28.
Presbyterian never reduced the deficit to six during the remainder of its history.
Thiam (10 points plus eight free throws) was responsible for 18 Panthers’ second-half points. House (8) contributed 18. Many offensive sets resulted in Randleman and House driving to the basket, or Thiam shooting from the outside.
HPU was able to make 16 of the 30 free throws for the game, while the Blue Hose managed just 9 of the 22 free throws.
Jalen Forrest led PC scoring 15 points, and Owen McCormick added 12 points. Owen McCormick played at Davie County.
HPU will be back in action Wednesday against Winthrop at the Qubein Center.