High Point Men’s Basketball Gets 70-64 Win Over Gardner-Webb

The High Point University men’s basketball team beat Gardner-Webb University by a score of 70-64 in conference play on Saturday night in the Millis Center. Both freshman Adam Weary and redshirt-freshman John Brown had 15 points to lead the Panthers, who shot 59 percent from the floor.

“We got production from a lot of guys and our guards played really well tonight,” said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. “It starts with our defense. We had some good stops in the second half and we were able to score off those. Dejuan McGaughy and Jairus Simms played great at the point tonight and we got a lot of support for our two leading scorers, John and Allan [Chaney].”

Weary shot 6-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Brown was 5-for-9 from the field and 5-for-6 at the line. He also finished with a team-high five rebounds. The Panthers shot over 68 percent (13-for-19) in the second half and went 3-for-6 from three-point range.

Three Bulldogs finished in double-digits on the night: sophomore guard Donta Harper (15 points), redshirt-senior guard Tashan Newsome (13) and sophomore guard Max Landis (10). Junior forward Onzie Branch grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

High Point improved to 7-8 overall and 2-1 in Big South play with the win while Gardner-Webb fell to 9-8 overall and 1-2 in the league.

Gardner-Webb took the early lead, jumping out to a 13-8 advantage in the first seven minutes. A lay-up by graduate-student Allan Chaney and a three-pointer from Weary tied the game at 13 with 11:55 remaining in the half. Those two baskets started a 20-3 run for the Panthers, who led 28-16 with just over six minutes left in the half. Weary scored all eight of his first-half points during the run. Gardner-Webb closed to within three in the final minutes of the first half before a lay-up by Chaney made it 32-27 at the break.

High Point opened the second half hitting six of its first eight shots, culminating with a three-pointer from the right corner by senior Branimir Mikulic. That put the Panthers ahead 48-34 with 12 minutes remaining. Five different HPU players scored in the opening minutes, including four points by freshman Lorenzo Cugini.

High Point’s lead reached as high as 15 points and remained in double-digits until the final minutes when Gardner-Webb used a full-court pressure to pull within single digits. The Panthers shot 8-for-11 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to seal the win.

High Point returns to the Millis Center on Wednesday to face Liberty in the first of two matchups against the Flames this season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.