HPU (9-21) could not stop the inside presence allowing Radford (19-11) to score 38 points in the paint. In the second half, High Point also shot a dismal 11-for-35 from the floor for 31.4 percent.

“They did extend their pressure and we were challenged at the rim,” Panthers coach Bart Lundy said.

Pacing the Panthers was Gene Harris with 12 points, all were converted three-pointers. David Singleton scored 11 points while dishing out six assists. Cruz Daniels finished with four blocks and nine rebounds.

Big South MVP, Art Parakhouski, scored 24 points for the Highlanders. Junior Amir Johnson finished close to a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Kenny Thomas and Joey Lynch-Flohr finished with double figures, 19 and 12 points respectively.

Daniels said of Parakhouski’s play and the game’s result, “He’s a good player. I figured we prepared well for the game but it’s completely different when you are out there.”

Coming out of the break HPU trailed by 13. After a 5-0 run, Harris missed a 3-pointer leading to an emphatic dunk by Parakhouski who was fouled by Daniels on the play. The fast break led to a 28-6 Radford run that put the game out of reach for the Panthers.

In the first half HPU could not stop the inside presence of Parakhouski and Lynch-Floh posting 16 and 10 points respectively. Floor general Amir Johnson played all 20 minutes dishing out six assists.

Guards Nick Barbour, Harris and Singleton dominated HPU’s first half. Barbour scored all of his eight points while Harris and Singleton chipped in six apiece. Cruz Daniels pulled down three rebounds, all on the defensive end.

High Point is done for the year. This year’s 21 losses were the second most losses in High Point history and the most losses since the 1953-54 campaign. The team that year finished 7-23.

“[HPU's] record this year was not indicative of their season,” said Radford coach, Brad Greenberg, following the game.

All higher seeds in the Big South won the opening round. Thursday night’s action will feature VMI vs. Liberty for the early contest and Radford vs. UNC-Asheville in the late game. Both games can be seen on ESPNU and are hosted by Radford. The championship game will be played at highest remaining seed.

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VMI (22-7, 13-5 Big South) won their first contest in High Point, 81-76.  HPU (9-20, 4-14) had four players finish with double figures.

Melvin Crowder shined in his final home game in front of 1,642 in attendance.  Crowder finished with a career best 14 points, including four 3-pointers.

“Melvin has meant so much to our program and a great kid.  He kind of is High Point University.  Everybody knows Melvin,” Lundy said.

Freshman Nick Barbour scored 15 points making it 11 straight games with double-digit figures.  Cruz Daniels recorded his team leading fifth double-double with 14 points and a career high 20 rebounds.

“[Daniels] development as a player and his confidence has been phenomenal.”  Lundy continued, “He’s becoming the best big man in the Big South.”

Leading VMI was senior Chavis Holmes with 19 points.  Also scoring double figures was Austin Kenon, Travis Holmes and Michael Sparks.

The Runnin’ Roos showed their “loot and shoot” style in the first nine minutes of the second half.  They stretched their half time lead of six to 22 points with 11:20 remaining in the game.  HPU ignited for a 22-6 run over the next six minutes to bring it within six on a Jacob Iati three pointer.

“[VMI’s] style is the most difficult style I’ve ever seen.  Their pressure the first game, I’ve never seen it.  I was up all night thinking about the pressure,” David Singleton said following the game.  The freshman guard finished with 10 points, eight assists and 3 steals.

VMI scored the next five points then the Panthers scored the eight straight points.  Travis Holmes converted on the second of two free throws to push the score 79-74 with 21 seconds left.  Singleton scored a layup to bring the deficit to three before Chavis Holmes hit two free throws to bring the game to the follow score.

High Point relied on rebounds to keep them in the game winning the battle 31-16.  The Keydets converted only on 24.5 percent from behind the arch.  They shot 53 of their 73 attempts from long distance.

Chavis Holmes said on the large lead VMI let disappear, “It’s easy to come back when you don’t feel you don’t you have anything to lose.  Give a lot of credit to them, at the end of the game they came back but we were able to hold them off.”

His brother, Travis said, “When we make shots, that’s when we can set up our defense and we start get steals and everything just starts flowing.”

High Point’s first basket was a 3-pointer from Crowder on the wing assisted by Steadman Short.  Crowder was honored before the game with a ceremony where he received a poster of his likeness and a raucous standing ovation and applause.

“That’s my boy.  I just wanted him to go out in fashion; unfortunately I didn’t want him to win.  We got the w tonight but he played hard tonight.  He got his chance tonight to show people what he can do,” Travis Holmes said of Crowder.  The twins and Crowder grew up together and spend much of their school breaks together.

Crowder said reflecting on his pregame ceremony, “I learned so much from the people here at High Point.  I don’t think the people here realize that everybody has made an impact on my life some way, some how.  I really do cherish everyone here no matter if we get along or we don’t get along.  I think everyone showed me so much here.  I’m really happy to be here.”

The Panthers play Tuesday at Radford for the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament.  HPU has lost the two meetings this year against RU.  Game time set for 7 pm in the Dedmon Center.

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“It another disappointing loss. We played hard it’s just the little things that were not doing that are costing us the games,” Jourdan Morris said.

The Panthers were lead by inside forces Cruz Daniels and Jourdan Morris. Daniels finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds. Morris tallied his first 20-point outing, finishing with 21 points and three assists. Nick Barbour scored double-digits for the eighth straight game with 14 points.

“[Head] Coach [Bart] Lundy told us in practice we were going to have advantage of size. That’s just it. We just worked on getting it inside,” said Daniels. HPU outscored UNCA 40-30 in the paint.

Down by as many as 12 in the second half, the Panthers used an 11-0 run to claw back into the game before a hectic final minute.

HPU took a two-point lead with 1:50 left in the game. It was the first lead in over 33 minutes of play. Asheville regained the lead with 45 seconds thanks to a layup from John Williams.

Cruz Daniels flushed a dunk after a David Singleton missed layup to tie the game for the sixth time. Williams responded with his own dunk on the other end of the court with four seconds remaining.

David Singleton drove the length of the court to pass off to Gene Harris who made a jumper on the baseline at the buzzer.

“I just had to throw it up and just lucky it went in,” Harris said following the game.
The Bulldogs controlled the overtime period. The Panthers never held a lead in the extra five minutes of play, trailing by no more than three points.

The first half featured high shooting percentage for both squads. UNCA shot 16 of 26 from the floor for 61.5 percent. The Panthers shot 15 of 27 from the floor for 55.6 percent.

Hurting High Point were the 12 turnovers. Asheville scored seven points off of HPU’s turnovers. The Bulldogs had a seven point lead heading into halftime.

“Really it comes down to playing hard. We are going to learn from this mistake and we are going to try to work on the next game,” Daniels said.

High Point takes the floor next Monday against Longwood University. The Lancers are 14-12 on the year including wins over George Washington, James Madison and Gardner-Webb. LU is 2-9 on the road and will bring a two game road losing streak to the Millis Center Feb. 23.

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Pop quiz: Can the men’s program become successful?

The men’s team hasn’t won a game at home versus a NCAA Division I team. We have already lost seven games at home total this year. Our most losses in the Millis Center is eight. We are too close to that dubious distinction.

For most of our players this is the worst team they have ever played on by the numbers. At 5-15 they aren’t setting the world on fire right now, especially considering three of those wins were against non-D1 opponents.

On realtimerpi.com we are ranked 336 out of 343 teams. We beat NC Central and they are ranked higher than us; they only have one win. Yeah, this is a tough year.

Where can we go from here? You would think there couldn’t be any further fallout. We are last in the Big South with a lone win coming in Rock Hill versus Winthrop. We can only go up, right?

Well, no. We could stay last and be the first team to be left out of the Big South tournament. That would be the lowest of all lows. We could also lose every game for the rest of the year including a game on MASN against Gardner-Webb and the home contest against independent Longwood. Traditionally, we have not done well on television. Also, we lost at Longwood last year and they have key wins this year against James Madison and George Mason, albeit both games were at Longwood.

On the flip side, Bart and the boys could figure out how to hold on to a 10 point lead at half or even a nine point lead with two minutes remaining. It isn’t like these guys are used to winning.

Melvin Crowder won a state championship in high school against a little guard named Chris Paul. Paul now plays in the NBA for the New Orleans Hornets. Gene Harris lead his prep team to a top five ranking nationally. Cruz Daniels’ high school team went 55-5 his final two years. The prep team for Jourdan Morris was state runners up in Maryland. Steadman Short’s senior year included an 18 game win streak. David Singleton lead his prep team to their first 20-win season in over a decade. Nick Bourbor lost one game last year.

This team knows how to win. They have done it before. Can they piece their previous success together to make a successful Panther program? Time is running out to answer the question. Let’s raise the bar together.

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