HPU Men’s Hoops Upended at No. 12/12 Ohio State Wednesday

• Redshirt-junior John Brown led the Panthers with 19 points and four rebounds
• Junior Adam Weary added seven points off the bench for the Panthers
• HPU returns to action on Wednesday (Dec. 17) vs. Ferrum at 7 p.m. inside the Millis Center

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The High Point University men’s basketball team (6-3) dropped a 97-43 contest at No. 12/12 Ohio State on Wednesday evening inside Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center.

Redshirt-junior John Brown led the Panthers (6-3) with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including an incredible alley-oop layup from underneath the basket in the first half. Junior Adam Weary chipped in seven points off the bench while junior Lorenzo Cugini added five points in front of his home-state crowd.

“John Brown was out with a couple fouls [in the first half] and when our best player picks up two early fouls it presents a challenge for our team,” head coach Scott Cherry said. “We missed five lay-ups, two wide open threes and two free throws in the first half. We basically gave away 12 points and if you make some of those you have a manageable game at the half. Against a team like this you almost have to play a perfect game and we didn’t.”

HPU struggled on the offensive end against the stingy OSU (7-1) zone defense, shooting 32.1 percent (18-56). On the flip side, the Buckeyes hit 62.5 percent (35-56) of their shots, including 61.5 percent (8-20) from beyond the arc. High Point did post 11 assists on their 18 made buckets and forced 13 Ohio State turnovers.

The Panthers trailed 8-6 at the 15:59 mark of the first half before the Buckeyes used an 8-0 run to move ahead by 12 (22-10) with 8:02 to play in the period. OSU extended its lead to 14 (28-14), before HPU posted six of the next eight points to cut the Buckeye lead to 10 (30-20) with four minutes to play in the half. The stretch included a great sequence where Brown slammed home a jam, then stole the ball and hit a jumper over two Buckeye defenders.

From there, Ohio State closed the half on an 11-4 run and led 43-24 at the half. Brown led the Panthers with 10 points and two rebounds in the stanza. HPU shot 34.5 percent (10-29) in the half while OSU was at 55.2 percent (16-29).

The Buckeyes used a 10-0 run early in the second half to build a 53-25 lead with 17:05 remaining in the game. OSU moved ahead 67-34 with 13:31 remaining and the Panthers could not move any closer for the remainder of the game.

HPU returns to the Millis Center next Wednesday (Dec. 17) to take on Ferrum at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the Big South Network. Streaming audio also will be available on highpointpanthers.com, featuring “Voice of the Panthers” Evan Lepler and Stafford Stephenson. Pre-game coverage on the High Point Panthers Radio Network begins at 6:30 p.m.