High Point Men’s Basketball Hosts Morgan State Saturday

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s basketball team (3-2) returns home to take on MEAC foe Morgan State (2-3) on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the Millis Center.

Tip-off between the Panthers and Bears is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday’s game will be streamed live on the Big South Network. In addition, the game will air live on the High Point Panthers Radio Network, with Evan Lepler providing analysis. Pre-game coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. (EST), with the post-game show immediately following the contest vs. the Bears.

PAW PRINTS
• HPU will play four of its next five games inside the friendly confines of the Millis Center.
• High Point has posted a 24-7 (.774) record in the Millis Center since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Panthers have won 21 of their past 23 home games and have not lost a non-conference home game since a setback to James Madison on Dec. 14, 2013.
• Last time out, the Panthers nearly knocked off SEC foe Georgia but came up just short, falling to the Bulldogs 49-46 Wednesday in Athens, Ga.
• HPU nearly erased an 11-point halftime deficit (33-22) and trailed by just one (44-43) with 1:53 to go. Georgia led by three (49-46) with 11 seconds left, but a pair of 3-pointers from junior Anthony Lindauer rimmed out on the final Panther possession as the Bulldogs escaped with the victory.
• HPU’s two losses this season (at Texas Tech, at Georgia) have come by a combined seven points.
• Senior forward Lorenzo Cugini led the Panthers with a game-high 14 points and season-high eight rebounds against the Bulldogs. The Stow, Ohio, native has posted at least 12 points in all five games for HPU this season.
• Georgia was just 6-of-21 (.286) from 3-point territory against the Panthers. Over the past two games, HPU has limited its opponents to a 22.2 percent mark (12-54) from beyond the arc. On the year, HPU ranks 36th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.268).

PANTHERS FEATURE BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
High Point has had at least three players score in double figures in each of the team’s first five games of 2015-16. Seniors John Brown and Lorenzo Cugini have posted at least 10 points in all five games, while fellow senior Adam Weary has reached the 10+ point plateau in four of five contests.

A LOOK AT THE BEARS (2-3, 0-0 MEAC)
Morgan State was picked seventh out of 13 teams in the 2015-16 MEAC preseason media poll. The Bears return 10 letter winners and three starters from a 2014-15 squad that posted a 7-24 record, including a 5-11 mark in MEAC play. This season, MSU opened the season with road losses at then-No. 6 Virginia (86-48), cross-town rival Towson (69-61) and Old Dominion (79-48). The Bears come to the Millis Center riding a two-game winning streak, with victories at Big South foe Campbell (59-54) and against Div. II squad Goldy-Beacom (66-62). Junior guard Andrew Horne leads the Bears with 13.4 ppg while chipping in 4.4 rebounds per contest. Senior Phillip Carr is the team’s leading rebounder (9.2 rpg) and also averages 8.8 points per contest. Freshman guard Cameron Martez ranks fourth in the MEAC with 4.2 assists/game.

HISTORY vs. MORGAN STATE
HPU and Morgan State will meet for the third time on Saturday. The Bears have won both meetings, including a 75-68 victory in High Point on February 23, 2013 and an 85-74 win in Baltimore on Dec. 18, 2013. HPU redshirt-senior John Brown saw action in both contests during his freshman and sophomore seasons, respectively, and averaged an impressive 25.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and a .552 field goal percentage (16-29) in the series.

ALL-TIME MEAC SERIES
The Panthers are 11-9 (.500) all time against current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. HPU’s most common opponents are North Carolina Central (5-0), North Carolina A&T (1-3) and Savannah State (2-1). In the most recent meeting with a MEAC program, HPU defeated Maryland Eastern Shore, 70-64 on March 18, 2015 in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The win marked HPU’s first ever Div. I postseason victory.

UP NEXT
HPU opens its 2015-16 Big South slate with a home contest vs. Longwood on Dec. 2 (7 p.m.). The Panthers will then play at Gardner-Webb on Dec. 5 before returning to non-conference play from Dec. 6-30. Wednesday’s game against the Lancers will air live on the Big South Network. Coverage on the High Point Panthers Radio Network begins at 6:30 p.m.

About the Panthers: The High Point University men’s basketball team is coming off a record-breaking 2014-15 season that saw the Panthers set new Div. I program records for wins (23), Big South wins (13), road wins (9) and Big South road wins (6). HPU advanced to the postseason for the third-straight year and earned its first ever postseason win with a victory over UMES in the CIT. HPU is the winningest Big South program over the past three years and is one of just six schools nationally to have won a regular season conference title in each of the past three campaigns (Gonzaga, Kansas, Stephen F. Austin, Davidson, Harvard).