• Senior Tarique Thompson and sophomore Ricky Madison led HPU to a 24-point win over Ferrum with 16 points apiece.
• Madison was one of three players to score a new career high along with freshmen Luke Vargo (11) and Cliff Thomas Jr. (8).
• The Panthers dominated down low, outscoring Ferrum, 34-14, in the point and finishing +14 on the boards.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s basketball team returned home and picked up a 77-53 win over Ferrum College in non-conference action on Sunday afternoon in the Millis Center. Senior Tarique Thompson and sophomore Ricky Madison both finished with 16 points to lead the way for the Purple & White.
“This was a good win for us today,” head coach Scott Cherry said. “I thought our guys made some strides in the right direction on some things we have been working on the past few days. A lot of guys stepped up in this game. Ricky Madison had a great day and Tarique Thompson, Luke Vargo and Cliff Thomas Jr. all played well off the bench. We got off to a slow start but after that I thought we locked in and did the things we needed to do. We still got a lot of work to do to keep getting better.”
Madison finished 5-9 from the floor and 5-6 from the line to set a new career high, besting his previous career high of 13 points set against UVa-Wise. He also grabbed seven rebounds and had a block in the win. Thompson went 8-8 off the bench for the Panthers, scoring 16 in just 15 minutes of action.
In addition to Madison, two other HPU players set career highs in scoring as freshman Luke Vargo went for 11 points on 4-7 shooting and fellow freshman Cliff Thomas Jr., had eight points. Junior Jalen Williams led the team with a career-high eight assists in the contest while redshirt-senior Miles Bowman Jr., finished with a team-best 11 rebounds.
High Point dominated Ferrum in the paint, outscoring the Panthers, 34-14, while also out-rebounding the visitors by 14, 38-24.
Ferrum hit its first four shots of the game to take an early 10-3 lead less then three minutes in, but HPU raised its defensive intensity the rest of the half, allowing just 18 more points on 5-20 shooting.
The Purple & White trailed by one, 17-16 with 11 minutes to play in the first half before a 15-3 run propelled HPU to an 11-point advantage. Sophomore Andre Fox got the run started with a floater and a 3-pointer on both sides of a media timeout.
After Ferrum closed to within six, the Panthers ended the half on an 8-0 run to go into the break up 42-28. Madison had six of HPU’s eight points in the run on his way to 14 first-half points.
The lead remained at 14 points six minutes into the second half when a 14-6 burst by High Point pushed the Panther advantage to 20, putting the game out of reach for the visitors. Thomas delivered the exclamation point with a dunk on a fast break to put HPU up 63-43 with a little more than five minutes remaining.
High Point wraps up the home portion of its non-conference schedule with a game against North Carolina-Weslesyan on Friday, Dec. 16. Tip in the game is set for 7 p.m.