High Point Men’s Basketball Runs Away for 63-Point Victory

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Thirteen different players scored, including six in double-digits, as the High Point University men’s basketball team picked up a 99-36 win over Johnson & Wales on Sunday afternoon in the Millis Center. The Panthers held the Wildcats to 10 points in the second half and forced 27 turnovers in the game.

“I liked the way the team responded after we lost by one point on Thursday, and I liked the way everybody on the roster contributed,” said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. “We picked up our intensity throughout the game. At halftime, we challenged the team to hold Johnson & Wales under 20 percent three-point shooting and they did. We had two long road trips last week so I wanted everyone to get minutes and everyone played well.”

Junior guard Derrell Edwards shot 5-for-9 from the field and 1-for-3 from behind the arc for 13 points while redshirt-freshman John Brown shot 3-for-6 from the field and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line, also scoring 13 points to pace the Panthers. Edwards also led the team with four steals while Brown had seven rebounds.

Four other High Point players finished in double-digits as senior Corey Law had 11 points and nine rebounds and graduate student Allan Chaney had 10 points and nine boards. Senior Branimir Mikulic and freshman Adam Weary also scored 10 each. Mikulic hit both of his attempts from three-point range.

Joshua Cohen and Kindrick Anderson each finished with 10 points to lead the way for Johnson & Wales. Mario Irby scored nine points with a team-high nine rebounds.

High Point improved to 4-2 overall while Johnson & Wales dropped to 3-11.

After a three-pointer from Anderson got the Wildcats an early 5-2 lead, the Panthers used a 15-0 run to seize a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game. Brown and senior Jairus Simms each had four points during the nine-minute run.

Back-to-back baskets from the Wildcats’ Irby put an end to the run with 11:01 to go. Johnson & Wales went on an 11-4 run of its own, capped by a Joshua Cohen trey that made the score 21-16 with 7:45 left in the half. The Panthers built their lead back up to double-digits with under four minutes to play in the first half and went into halftime with a 17-point advantage (43-26). HPU had 11 steals in the first 20 minutes.

High Point came out with a renewed defensive effort in the second half, holding Johnson & Wales to just 10 points on 12.9 percent (4-for-31) shooting from the floor and 7.1 percent (1-for-14) shooting from beyond the arc. Ball pressure forced two shot clock violations. The Panthers opened the half on a 19-1 run and didn’t allow a field goal until Cohen hit a jumper with 14:38 left on the clock. It was 64-29 at that point and the Panthers scored the next 19 before an Irby jumper made it 83-31 with 8:29 left. High Point outscored the Wildcats 16-5 from that point on.

The 63-point win was High Point’s first of 50 or more points since a 100-50 win over Montreat on Nov. 28, 2008. HPU held Johnson & Wales to 23.3 percent field-goal shooting and 20.8 three-point shooting in the game. HPU’s 17 steals led to 41 points off turnovers. The Panthers’ bench accounted for 47 points, including a career-high six points on 3-for-3 shooting by senior Landon Harris.

High Point is back in action on Wednesday with a local road game at Wake Forest at 7 p.m. at the Lawerence Joel Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Pantehrs will look to avenge an 87-83 loss to the Demon Deacons last December at the Millis Center.