The High Point University men’s basketball team held a seven-point lead in the second half but Radford was able to come back for a 63-58 result on Wednesday night at the Millis Center. Graduate student Allan Chaney had 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks and freshman Adam Weary scored 13 points with six rebounds and four assists.
“Defensively, we played well, we just couldn’t make plays at the end,” said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. “We held them to 37 percent from the floor and 27 percent from three, and we outrebounded them. I thought we did some good things and I would have loved to pull this one out after the effort the guys gave tonight. We hit some adversity. Now we’ve got to stick together, regroup and get ready for our next game.”
Chaney’s four blocks were a career high. Weary shot 5-for-8 from the floor and also added a pair of steals. Redshirt-senior Corey Law tied his season-high nine rebounds.
Four Radford players scored in double figures led by freshman Rashun Davis, who led all scorers with 17 points and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore swingman Javonte Green scored 10 points, tied Law for the game high with nine rebounds and blocked three shots.
The Panthers fell to 16-12 overall and 11-4 in Big South play while Radford improved to 13-17 and 7-8. High Point has already clinched the No. 1 seed in the North Division for the Big South Tournament.
Down 44-35, High Point went on a 12-0 run started by a Derrell Edwards layup with 11:51 remaining in the game. The Panthers took their first lead of the second half when Weary hit a jumper to make it 45-44 with 9:00 left. HPU was up 52-49 when a Radford technical foul led to three free throws by the Panthers. Chaney hit another free throw with 5:07 remaining, giving High Point its largest lead of seven points (56-49).
Radford fought back, scoring six points in a row on free throws before a three-pointer by Davis gave the Highlanders a 58-56 lead with 1:06 left in the game. Radford shot 11-for-14 from the line to finish the game.
High Point and Radford battled in the opening minutes, neither team getting a lead greater than two including four ties. A three-point play by Weary made it 11-8 before Radford battled back. The Highlanders trailed by three (13-10) at the 12:27 mark before using an 11-0 run to take a 21-13 lead.
With 7:05 left in the first half, High Point went on a 7-0 run of its own to cut the Radford lead from eight points (23-15) down to one. Weary and freshman Lorenzo Cugini each contributed buckets before a three-pointer by senior Branimir Mikulic. Radford’s Kion Brown hit a jumper to ignite an 8-1 Highlander run before Chaney hit a three-pointer from the right side to get HPU within five (31-26). The Panthers went to the locker room down, 33-28.
High Point outrebounded Radford, 40-35, in the game but shot just 9-for-19 (47.4 percent) from the free-throw line. Radford turned 13 HPU turnovers into 19 points.
High Point finishes the regular season when it hosts Campbell on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Millis Center. It will be Senior Night for Landon Harris, Law, Mikulic and Jairus Simms. Campbell lost to Longwood, 79-66, on Wednesday and is 12-18 and 7-8 entering Saturday’s matchup.