• High Point dropped an 88-58 decision on the road at UNC Asheville on Saturday.
• Redshirt-senior Miles Bowman Jr., led the Panthers with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
• HPU outrebounded the Bulldogs, 37-30, and had 13 offensive rebounds in the contest.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The High Point University men’s basketball team fell on the road at UNC Asheville by a score of 88-58 on Saturday afternoon in Asheville, N.C. Redshirt-senior Miles Bowman Jr. recorded his seventh double-double of the season with a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.
“We got down in a hole early and you just aren’t going to recover from that against a team like this,” head coach Scott Cherry said. “Asheville is very good, they do what they do and they do it very well. We came out of the gates and were just not good from the get go. We gave them early looks and gave them early makes. Offensively we couldn’t get the ball in the basket for whatever reason. We need to get to practice and regroup. We got a bunch of guys that need to focus on being committed to doing the little things every possession on both ends of the floor. When we do that we will be good.”
Bowman Jr., shot 4-8 from the floor and a perfect 8-8 from the line to lead the Panthers on the afternoon. Seniors Anthony Lindauer and Tarique Thompson also finished in double figures with 13 and 10 respectively. Lindauer was 4-8 from the field and 3-6 from behind the arc while Thompson finished 4-6 on field goals.
Five different players finished in double figures for UNC Asheville, led by David Robertson who scored 19 while shooting 5-9 from behind the arc. MaCio Teague (16), Kevin Vannata (12), Raekwon Miller (12) and Ahmad Thomas (11) all joined Robertson in double figures.
High Point outscored UNC Asheville in the paint, 26-24, and outrebounded the Bulldogs by seven, including grabbing 13 offensive rebounds, but the Panthers couldn’t overcome the 13 made 3-pointers by Asheville on the afternoon.
The Panthers drop to 7-9 overall and 1-3 in the Big South with the loss at UNC Asheville while the Bulldogs improve to 11-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
The hosts opened the contest hot from behind the arc, connecting on five 3-pointers to open an early 18-2 lead with 13:20 left in the first half. The Panthers still trailed by 13, 22-9, with 10 minutes to play in the half when UNC Asheville got a layup by Ahmad Thomas that started a 22-5 run by the Bulldogs. The run pushed Asheville’s advantage to 30, 44-14, with just under four minutes left in the period.
Junior Austin White hit a jumper from the elbow to stop the run by the Bulldogs as HPU outscored Asheville, 11-6, down the stretch to go into the half down 50-25. White had four points down the stretch as did Lindauer while Thompson had three to finish the half leading HPU with eight points.
High Point and Asheville played to a draw in the second half as the Panthers attacked the basket throughout the period. The Purple & White had 14 points in the paint in the second half while also going to the line 10 times and shooting a perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe. Bowman Jr. paced HPU with 12 second-half points, eight at the line.
High Point continues its march through the Big South on Wednesday, Jan. 11, when the team plays host to Liberty at the Millis Center. Tip is set for 7 p.m.