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.

Related posts:

1. HPU ends season at Radford
2. High Point takes down VMI
3. HPU falls in overtime

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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1. HPU falls in overtime
2. Campus Chronicle #2
3. Men's soccer is a team we can believe in