FARMVILLE, Va. — The High Point University men’s basketball team led by 21 points at halftime and opened the second half on a 13-4 run, cruising to an 85-59 victory over Longwood on Saturday at Willett Hall in Farmville, Va. HPU tied the program Div. I record with 26 assists in the game, including 11 by freshman point guard Jorge Perez-Laham.
High Point improved to 10-4 in the Big South and is tied with VMI for the Big South North Division lead with two games remaining. The Panthers and Keydets face off on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Millis Center. HPU has won 10 of its last 12 games. VMI beat Radford, 88-76, earlier on Saturday.
“This was a tremendous team effort, obviously you can see by 26 assists on 31 field goals,” said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. “It shows how we played as a team and we took care of the ball. We talked about not getting ahead of ourselves and paying attention to the details. The guys did what they needed to do. It was a great effort by our guys.”
Junior guard Devante Wallace led HPU with 20 points and hit five three-pointers. It was the third time this season he hit at least five treys. Sophomore forward Lorenzo Cugini scored 14 points and redshirt-sophomore forward John Brown scored 13 points with nine rebounds and four assists.
The Panthers’ 26 assists tied the HPU Div. I record of 26 set against Allen on Nov. 21, 2003. HPU committed just eight turnovers. Perez-Laham’s 11 assists were one off his career high.
Senior guard Tristan Carey scored 17 points for Longwood, 15 of the points coming in the second half, and grabbed eight rebounds. Karl Ziegler scored 11 points and Lucas Woodhouse had six assists for the Lancers.
High Point improved to 14-13 overall and 10-4 in the Big South while Longwood fell to 8-21 overall and 3-11 in league play. High Point has won four in a row against Longwood.
High Point got out to an 8-2 lead after consecutive three-pointers by freshman Anthony Lindauer and Cugini and led the rest of the way. Perez-Laham’s three-pointer with 8:06 left in the half made it 27-15 and High Point led by double digits for the rest of the half. Perez-Laham connected with Brown for an alley-oop on the next play.
The Panthers stretched their lead when Wallace hit consecutive three-pointers, the second making it 41-23 with 4:19 remaining. It was 49-28 at halftime when Haiishen McIntyre drove the lane and hit a floater in the closing seconds. McIntyre’s basket was the first HPU basket that wasn’t assisted, breaking a streak of 16 in a row. The Panthers held Carey scoreless for the first 16 minutes. He was averaging 18.6 points entering the game.
Brown drained a jumper, Wallace hit a three and Brown hit a layup to open the second half, making it 54-28. It was a 30-point lead (62-32) when Wallace hit a three with a hand in his face with 16:10 remaining. The closest Longwood got after that was within 25 points. HPU’s largest lead was 35 (84-49) when senior guard Dejuan McGaughy completed a three-point play with 5:10 remaining.
It was McGaughy’s first action since Jan. 10. He missed the last 11 games with an injury.
High Point wraps up the regular season next week when it hosts VMI on Wednesday and Campbell on Friday. Both games begin at 7 p.m. and will have free tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis. Friday’s game against Campbell will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
HPU HAS FREE admission for the feb 27 vs. CAMPBELL free purple t-shirt for all fans