HPU’s Cherry Named NABC District 3 Coach of the Year

High Point University head coach Scott Cherry has been named National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 3 Coach of the Year. Cherry led the Panthers to their first outright Big South regular season title and first National Invitation Tournament (NIT) appearance in 2013-14.

Cherry was also named Big South Coach of the Year, the first HPU men’s basketball coach to receive that honor since the program moved up to NCAA Div. I and joined the conference in 1999-2000.

High Point finished the season 16-15 overall and went 12-4 in Big South play this season. The team executed a major turnaround after starting the year 4-11 overall and 0-2 in league play. The Panthers went 12-2 in their final 14 regular-season games to win the title. HPU was the first team ever to win the Big South regular season after starting 0-2 in conference games.

The Panthers played Minnesota in the first round of the NIT, taking an 88-81 loss on March 18. The Golden Gophers play Florida State in the NIT semifinals on April 1 at Madison Square Garden.

High Point also went 12-4 in Big South games last year, winning the Big South North Division, and finished the season 17-14 overall. HPU is a combined 33-29 overall and 24-8 in conference play in the last two seasons.

Cherry completed his fifth season as HPU head coach and has a 73-81 record with the Panthers. HPU went 9-19 overall and 4-14 in Big South play the season before Cherry joined the program.

A 1993 graduate of the University of North Carolina, Cherry is originally from Ballston Spa, N.Y. He was an assistant coach for 10 seasons before joining High Point, including seven seasons at George Mason and a season each at Western Kentucky and South Carolina.