HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University men’s basketball team never trailed on its way to a 66-56 win over Wofford on Sunday evening at the Millis Center. Redshirt-sophomore John Brown scored 22 points, including 18 in the second half, to lead the way for HPU.
“Any time we get a win, I’m happy,” said HPU head coach Scott Cherry. “We had a lot of players contribute today and our bench was great. John Brown is obviously a special player and, going 10-for-15 from the floor shows that. This was a good team win.”
Brown shot 10-for-15 from the floor for the game and also finished with a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore Lorenzo Cugini came off the bench for a career-high 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting while sophomore Adam Weary chipped in with 12.
Spencer Collins led Wofford with 13 points on the night. Jaylen Allen had double-digits off the bench with 11 points. Karl Cochran led the Terriers with nine rebounds in the loss to go along with eight points.
The Panthers improved to 3-2 and remain undefeated at the Millis Center this season with a 2-0 mark at home. Wofford fell to 1-4 on the season.
High Point jumped out to an early 11-2 lead against the Terriers. The Panthers used their size advantage in the early part of the game, outrebounding Wofford, 6-3, and outscoring the Terriers by an 8-0 margin in the paint. Wofford battled back to tie the game at 13-13 with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half before a pair of free throws by Cugini and a layup by Weary lifted HPU back into the lead. The Panthers led 31-27 at halftime.
High Point came out hot to start the second half, outscoring Wofford 12-4 to go up 43-31 with 15:36 remaining. Brown led the charge with 10 of High Point’s first 12 points in the half.
High Point led 62-50 with just under a minute remaining when Wofford rattled off six-straight points on back-to-back three pointers by Skinner. The forward hit his first one on an inbounds pass then, after a Wofford timeout, stole the HPU inbounds and converted his second three-pointer with 41 seconds on the clock. That was the closest the Terriers would get as HPU senior Dejuan McGaughy scored on a layup and Weary hit two free throws to make the final score 66-56.
High Point shot 15-for-22 (68.2 percent) from the floor in the second half and went 26-for-48 (54.2 percent) from the floor in the game. The Panthers outscored Wofford 36-16 in the paint and got 27 points off the bench.
High Point will continue its season on Sunday, Dec. 1, when the team hosts Stephen F. Austin at the Millis Center at 2 p.m. It will be the second meeting between the two schools.