Raising the Bar » Gene Harris

Lundy fired after 9-21 mark

Bryan Rothamel — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:26:58 +0000

Only six days after the season ended, Bart Lundy has been dismissed as head coach of the men’s basketball program.

“Our desire and commitment to build a successful and championship-caliber basketball program are very strong,” said athletic director Craig Keilitz in a press release on www.highpointpanthers.com.

This past year HPU went 9-21, marking the second time in program history losing more than 20 games. In Lundy’s six years, the Panthers compiled a record of 96-87 overall and 48-46 in Big South play.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Gene Harris said, “We didn’t think this was going to happen at all.”

Lundy told the High Point Enterprise the move was “a surprise.” Returning next year are the team’s top nine scorers including Harris, Cruz Daniels and Big South All-Freshmen team member Nick Barbour.

The Panthers also expect to see redshirt freshman Corey Law and signed recruit Jairus Simms.

Harris also said, “(Lundy) really cared for his players on the court and especially off the court. It is a tough time for me right now and I know for a lot of the players.”

Lundy’s HPU-era started in 2003-04, finishing 19-11 and an appearance in the Big South Tournament Championship game. That year he was named National Rookie Coach of the Year by www.collegeinsider.com. The highlight of Lundy’s tenure came in the 2006-07 season going 22-10 and finishing second in the Big South.

Under Lundy’s guidance, the Panthers have had three players reach 1000 points while Harris is nine points away. Also, Arizona Reid and Danny Gathings earned three Big South Players of the Year awards combined. Both are HPU’s only NCAA Division I AP All-Americans. Gathings was named 2004 NCAA Division I National Sportsman of the Year.

Lundy previously coached at Queens and was an assistant at Queens and Winthrop.

Harris added, “I wish the best for coach Lundy, definitely. It is a tough time right now.”

Triad rival, Elon also made a coaching change yesterday firing Ernie Nestor. Both coaches were hired April 2003 and dismissed the same day.

HPU falls in overtime

Bryan Rothamel — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:02:21 +0000

High Point University lost another close game Tuesday night against UNC-Asheville. The Bulldogs (13-14, 9-7 Big South) defeated the Panthers (8-18, 4-12) in overtime, 81-78.

“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.

HPU sweeps Winthrop this year

Bryan Rothamel — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:11:04 +0000

High Point University won a home men’s basketball game on a night where HPU honored the all time winningest coach in program history.

HPU defeated Winthrop University for the second time this season 63-58 in front of a raucous 1,449 in the Millis Center. The win marks the first time HPU has swept WU in program history.

“We are humbled to get any win. I’m glad to get any win and hopefully we can spring board for this,” head coach Bart Lundy said.

Leading the way for the Panthers (7-17, 2-11) was freshman guard Nick Barbour with 31 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor. Freshman guard Jacob Iati played a career high 31 minutes finishing with six points, four assists and five rebounds. Four other HPU players were tied with six points apiece.

Winthrop (6-18, 5-9) relinquished the lead 2:18 into the game and never held it again. HPU stretched their lead to as many as 16 points with a Barbour fast break lay-up with 15:42 left in the game.

WU slowly chipped into the deficit and brought it down to four points on a three-point play from Cameron Stanley to cap a 10-0 run for the Eagles with just under three minutes left. Barbour made two free throws and Iati chipped in one of his own to finish the game for the Panthers.

Following his second consecutive 30+ point scoring performance, Barbour said, “It was nice to know we can win the games if we can just do it.”

Barbour and his teammates have had many close games this year. HPU have gone 3-7 in games decided by eight or less points.

“I’m proud of those guys. The plays we haven’t been making we made down the stretch especially in the last 1:20 in this game,” Lundy said.

Iati saw more time on the court because of foul trouble for freshman guard David Singleton who played 16 minutes compared to Singleton’s usual 28 minutes per game average.

“I’ve been doing [late game situations] all day in practice. I play against one of the best point guards in the conference in David Singleton [in practice]. He prepares me for stuff for this,” Iati said following the game.

The Panthers were without the service of Gene Harris who did not dress for the game but was seated on the bench in street clothes.

“[Harris not playing is] just an internal team deal. He’s great with the team, great with the coaching staff. It was an internal suspension,” Lundy said about the absence of the junior guard. Harris is averaging 12.3 points per game this season.

The victory gives High Point its first victory against an NCAA Division I team at home and ends a six game home losing skid.

At halftime, HPU honored Jerry Steele with the unveiling of a banner with his likeness on it. Steele stood at half court with his wife Kitty and HPU athletics director Craig Keilitz. During a standing ovation from the crowd, Steele blew kisses to the audience. Steele is HPU’s all time winningest coach with 458 victories at HPU. He is in the top 50 all-time winningest coaches in NCAA history with 609 victories from his time at both HPU and Guilford College.

HPU travels to Boiling Springs, N.C. to play Gardner-Webb University on Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. The game can be seen on MASN.

High school wins mean college success?

Bryan Rothamel — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:48:57 +0000

Recently ran in the Campus Chronicle. Enjoy!

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.

High Point trails at the half

Bryan Rothamel — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:58:41 +0000

High Point trails 33-18 to Winthrop at half in the Advance Auto Parts Big South semifinals.

The Panthers hit a bit of bad luck shooting making a dismal 31 percent of their shots. Winthrop has made 56 percent of their attempts.

The biggest problem is behind the arc for the Panthers. They have made three of 13 attempts, all of which hit by sophomore guard Gene Harris.

Along with Harris’ nine points, conference MVP Arizona Reid has nine points as well. Pacing second seeded Winthrop is Michael Jenkins with nine. Andy Buechert has chipped in nine.

Other notable stats include Mike Jefferson with four assists. Chris Gaynor has three helpers for the Eagles.

Full game recap after the conclusion of the game.