HPU falls in overtime
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.
The ride is over
High Point University lost to Winthrop University in the Advance Auto Parts Big South Semifinals 61-53. Winthrop advanced to the finals in which they prevailed against UNC Asheville.
“I was proud of our guys they didn’t lay down and we kept battling,” Panther head coach Bart Lundy said.
Arizona Reid led High Point with 21 points and nine rebounds. Gene Harris scored 21 points on seven three pointers. Michael Jenkins had 14 points for Winthrop.
The game started off well for the Panthers who scored the first five points of the game. After the first three minutes of the game, Winthrop gained the lead and never relinquished it.
The first half was all Winthrop when they on a 12-0 run over a three-minute span. The Eagles advanced their lead to as many as 18 before the break. Winthrop had a 33-18 advantaged heading to the locker room.
The Panthers shot only 31 percent from the floor in the first half. Reid or Harris scored all of the points. Senior guard Mike Jefferson only attempted one rushed three in the first half but had four assists.
The second half Winthrop kept a 10 plus point advantaged for over the first 11 minutes. The lead came as close to seven points in the final minute.
Winthrop won their 11th straight Big South tournament game setting a conference record. They also won their fourth straight championship on March 8.
Reid shot 8-27 from the floor and 0-7 from behind the arc. Reid said, “I had some good looks, I just didn’t make them. I had some open threes that rimed out. I guess today just wasn’t my day.”
“These two guys here with me [Reid and Jefferson], the sad part of it is they leave accomplishing some fantastic individual accomplishments. We are going to miss them. It is hard for me to express what they have meant to this program and how much I personally going to miss these guys. They not only are good basketball players, but great people.” Lundy said regarding his two senior leaders.
Reid’s final thoughts about looking back on his stellar two-time MVP career, “I had a lot of fun here at High Point. I had a good career. I still didn’t get the thing I came here to get.”
Reid did many things at High Point. He is the all time leader in steals, minutes played, game started and games played. He is second in points and third in rebounds. He is the Big South’s all time leader in rebounds and the only 2,000 point, 1,000 rebound man. He is the 97th player in NCAA history to achieve such a feat.
Jefferson’s final thoughts, “The coach at High Point gave me a chance being I was the last JUNCO player they took. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to play here and play with the best player I have ever played with in Arizona Reid. It was a dream and it came and went.”
Jefferson left with HPU’s all time assist record, three pointers made, third in minutes played, third in games started and a member of the 1,000 point club. He was in the nation’s top in assists per game this year and set a High Point single season record in assists.
The season is over but the team has bright spots looking ahead for next year. Jourdan Morris will be eligible after sitting out a year due to NCAA regulations over transferring. He played last year for St. Bonaventure scoring 13 points against Syracuse. <!–[if supportFields]> CONTACT _Con-3F61691828 <![endif]–>Alquan Mendenhall<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> will be a redshirt freshman next year. He scored 24 points a game as a junior. He scored 40 points in an area tournament game. Also coming in are two 70 rating guards on ESPN.com.
Big Joke
The Big South Conference’s regular season men’s champion hosts the semifinal of the championship tournament. As marvelous as an idea it is to allow the regular season champion host, it is extremely flawed.
Take for example this year. The second round was hosted at Asheville’s Justice Center. The Justice Center holds 1,100 fans. The gym’s court space is small as well. The “press row” was comfortable if you are less than five feet tall and 100 pounds. Not many people fit that description. The game was also broadcasted nationally on ESPNU. Grant it, not many people get the channel.
The Big South is broadcasted to 20 million subscribers that the championship is played at a small gymnasium. It was as if they thought only Liberty or Winthrop would win the conference every year.
The situation gets even worse at the championship game. The final game is played at the highest remaining seed. Example: UNC Asheville loses to Liberty. High Point beats Winthrop. That situation has both lower seeds winning. The final round would be played at High Point.
Liberty then played the opening round at home, the second round at UNCA and the final round at HPU. Five day span leaves them all across creation to win a berth to the most important basketball tournament in the land.
The Big South has a serious problem here. If the one seed loses, the ESPN family of networks is driven to two different venues. If there was one predetermined site, things would work much easier.
Imagine if Charleston Southern won the regular season then Liberty happen to get the championship game via upset. The Big South would be going from Charleston, SC to Lynchburg, VA. That would be a six-hour drive in one day for the teams and tem personnel.
The Big South needs to advert the problem before a problem happens. It is a simple solution; you want the conference to have a larger footprint? Treat it like it is big foot rather than a big joke.
I’ll give a recap of the High Point game versus Winthrop. Game time, if I can fit…
High Point falls to Winthrop
High Point University fell to Winthrop University Saturday 62-54 in the Winthrop Coliseum.
High Point (13-10, 5-4) could not muster a second half worthy of victory for the second straight year. Winthrop (15-9, 6-3) now controls second place.
The teams went into the game tied for second in the Big South. HPU used a victory of Liberty to tie Winthrop after WU lost to Coastal Carolina. Mike Jefferson paced the Panthers with 19 points while Arizona Reid finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and a team best four assists.
Jefferson scored 18 points in the first half as the Panthers went into the break up 34-31. Jefferson made three from deep. The Panthers never led by more than four points the whole first half.
The second half was a different story. For the second straight year HPU gave up a half time lead in the Winthrop Coliseum. The Panthers scored 20 points in the second half compared to the Eagles 31.
Head coach Bart Lundy told highpointpanthers.com, “”This was a disappointing loss today. We have steadily improved over the last several games and I thought today we took a bit of a step back. We needed to be tougher and play through some of our individual struggles. I thought we had problems finding any kind of flow in the second half.”
High Point welcomes Big South leading UNC Asheville Wednesday night. Game time is set for 7 pm in the Millis Center.
