HPU men turn back Elon
Dec. 6—ELON — In a stark turnaround, free throw shooting proved valuable instead of costly for the High Point University men's basketball team on Saturday,
In their first game since missed free throws helped lead to a double-overtime loss to Furman, the Panthers opened an eight-point lead late, hit 11 of 14 free tosses down the stretch and defeated Elon 83-77 in the Schar Center.
"This was huge, for my psyche especially," HPU head coach Tubby Smith said. "The way we've been losing games, blowing leads, not being able to pull games out late — we needed to do this. We tried to give it away again but the good Man upstairs wouldn't let us.
"Again, we made mistakes at the end like fouling a 3-point shooter and turning it over on our press offense. We still have a lot to work on, But I like the way we kept our composure and we made our free throws, something we didn't do in our last game."
Against Furman, HPU missed half of its free throws, including some that could have sealed a victory in both regulation and the first overtime. HPU hit 22 of 31 this time in getting its first road win of the season.
"We've practiced them a lot," Smith said. "We started practice with free throws to make sure they know that free throws win basketball games, so we better learn how to make them in the clutch."
John Michael-Wright led the Panthers with 29 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished two assists and picked two steals.
"We kept the ball in John-Michael's hands much of the time," Smith said. "He came through and was clutch all night long from the free throw line to taking care of the ball. He's been outstanding taking care of the ball. He's been leading by example and that's huge."
Zach Austin added 20 points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Emmanuel Izunabor had 12 points.
"Zach's got great timing, just a knack for blocking shots," Smith said. "He's quick off his feet. He had some big blocks tonight. Plus we were right spots tonight defensively and that was huge because they have that motion offense with a lot of dribble handoffs and moving screens."
Up by two at 68-66 with just over 6:30 to go, HPU held the Phoenix to just two points over the next 5:35 as the Panthers went up eight twice.
Elon hit a 3 to cut the margin to five with 53.4 seconds to go. HPU hit 5 of its next 6 free throws and got more stops to lead 81-71 with 21 seconds left. Torrence Wilson, who led the Phoenix with 34 points, then hit his fifth 3 of the game to give them hope.
Wright answered with two free throws that ended HPU's scoring and a seemingly safe nine-point cushion with 14.3 seconds left. But, Izunabor fouled Watson on a 3-point attempt. Watson made all three and HPU lost the ball out-of-bounds in its backcourt. The chances of a miracle ended when Watson misfired on a 3 with five seconds to go.
The Panthers committed a season-low seven turnovers.
"That's beautiful," Smith said.
HPU threatened to run away late in the first half when it went on an 18-6 run, capped by Wright's four-point play, to go up 40-26. The Phoenix trailed 40-32 at the half and used a 6-5 surge, the last eight points provided by Watson, to get as close as 49-48 with under 15 minutes left.
HPU scored the next six points (two buckets by Jaden House and one by Byrant Randleman) to lead 55-48 and the Phoenix never got closer than two the rest of the way.
The Panthers play host to Division III Guilford on Tuesday in the Qubein Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
gsmith@hpenews.com — 336-888-3519
