Site: Hampton, Va. (Hampton Convocation Center)
Score: High Point 64, Hampton 68
Records: High Point (7-11, 1-3), Hampton (5-10) (1-3)
HAMPTON, Va. — The High Point University men’s basketball team dropped an overtime contest to Hampton 68-64 on Saturday evening (Jan. 22nd). John-Michael Wright led HPU in scoring with 17 points on the evening. Alex Holt was second in scoring with 13 points on the night, ten of which came in the first half. Virginia native Jaden House was the third Panther in double digits with 12 points. Zack Austin was just a point shy of double digits with nine points.
G.G Smith: “I thought today our guys played hard. It’s another tough, close loss for us we just must find a way to win these games. John-Michael Wright was in foul trouble in the first half, I thought he played okay there in the second half. Our second group, Rob Peterson III and Bryson Childress really stepped up and gave us some good minutes. We can’t allow teams to outrebound us like Hampton did tonight that certainly didn’t help us. I thought our defense did well overall we just have to figure out a way to score points late in games, especially in overtime. We had a tough time scoring late.”
Panther Particulars
At the first media timeout of the contest, less than five minutes in Wright scored five points. He would be held to those five points for the rest of the half. HU led 14-7 at the first timeout of the game.
HPU continued to chip away at the early Pirate lead as a strong post play from Holt on inside cut the HU lead to 7, 16-9 with 13:29 left to play in the first half.
With 10:20 left in the first, House hit a three to bring HPU within two points, 16-14.
With 8:50 to play in the first half, Holt delivered a ferocious dunk on which he was fouled. Holt put his Panthers up one with 8:50 to pay in the first, 20-19.
5:18 left to play in the first half. Holt splits the free throws after he was fouled. Holt’s free throw made it 25-25.
Childress gave the Purple & White a three-point lead as he nailed a triple which put HPU in front, 28-25 with 3:50 in the first.
Holt closed the half with a layup that tied the game a 30 with 2:29 left to play in the first half
Hampton slightly increased its lead right before halftime taking a 36-32 lead into the break.
Two minutes into the second half, Austin hit a three to make it a three-point game.
Randleman drove to the basket and put HPU up 39-38.
HPU found ways to get to the free-throw line as House and Wright each took trips to the line. House hit one followed by two from JMW that gave HPU a 43-40 lead with 15:22 to play.
With 11:41 left HPU led 44-42 at the under 12 media timeout in the second half.
A great pass from Randleman found Holt with 9:40 to go gave HPU a 46-44 lead.
A JMW three gave HPU a 50-48 lead with 7:45 left in the second half. The three was paired with an and-one thunderous dunk from Austin.
The Panthers led 54-48 with 6:44 to play.
A four-point run for Hampton was answered by a JMW midrange jumper to put HPU up 4 with 4:42 left.
Four made Wright free throws gave HPU a 60-53 lead with 2:29 to play. Hampton charged back and made it a four-point game. HU had the ball with 40.8 to play.
Randleman stepped up and made two big free throws to make it 62-58 with 23.7 remaining. Hampton was able to get a steal and tie the game at 62 after nailing a three-pointer.
Hampton prevented HPU from scoring with 8.8 seconds left and the game went into overtime.
The first three minutes of overtime were scoreless for both sides. Hampton had a scoring burst where they took a four-point lead with under two minutes to play. House drove to the basket laid it in and was fouled. House made it a two-point game with less than 20 seconds to go in overtime. HPU trailed 66-64.
As Hampton prepared to be fouled they turned the ball over as Austin went up and grabbed the Pirate pass to cause the turnover.
HPU’s chances to tie just missed as three attempts to score on the inside went in and out and Hampton held on to win 68-64.
UP NEXT: HPU returns to the Qubein Center after a week on the road. HPU hosts Winthrop on Monday, January 24th at 6:00 PM in a game that was rescheduled after being postponed earlier this month. Then the Panthers will only have one day of a break before hosting Radford on Wednesday, January 26th at 7:00 PM.