HIGH POINT, N.C.-The Presbyterian College men's basketball team battled through a ten point second half deficit to lead by three points with 3:58 remaining, but was unable to hold on as the Panthers came away with the 69-62 win.

PC falls to 10-13 on the year and a 4-7 standing in the Big South Conference.  The Blue Hose were led by Jake Troyli's (Largo, Fla.) 24 points, while Pierre Miller (Warner Robbins, Ga.) grabbed a team-high six rebounds.  Josh Johnson (Hendersonville, Tenn.) recorded five steals in the contest and finished with eight points.  High Point, who was led by Nick Barbour's 17 points, moves to 8-13 and 5-7 in the conference.

Leading by four points to start the second half, High Point jumped out on an early scoring drive to quickly go up ten early in the second half.  The Blue Hose were down 38-28 at the 18:44 mark, but went on a 12 to four scoring run to trail by only two points, 40-42, with 12:36 left in the game.  Johnson then hit a huge three pointer to give PC the 43-42 advantage.  High Point responded to retake a three point lead with just under eight minutes remaining, but the Blue Hose again battled to cut into the Panther lead.  Using two consecutive jumpers from Troyli and a layup from Mutakabbir, PC overtook High Point to lead 55-54 at the 4:45 mark.

Another layup by Troyli put the Blue Hose ahead by three points with under four minutes left in the game.  With PC ahead 57-54 with 3:38 left, the Blue Hose had outscored High Point 29-16 since they trailed by ten points early in the half. 

The Panthers, however, then used two free throws and a two consecutive baskets from game-high scorer Nick Barbour to regain the lead.  With High Point leading 65-59 with 16 seconds left, Mutakabbir hit a three pointer to pull PC within three points, but the Panthers hit their free throws down the stretch and the Blue Hose were unable to close the gap and fell 69-62.

The Blue Hose traded baskets with High Point early in the first half, with neither team leading by more than four points for first nine minutes of the game.   The Panthers eventually pulled ahead by as many as eight points with just over three minutes left in the half, but PC kept their lead in check with help from a Mutakabbir basket and a three pointer from Johnson to make the score 32-28 at half time.

For the game, PC shot 44 percent from the field and grabbed 28 total rebounds, while High Point recorded a 48.1 shooting percentage and just edged the Blue Hose with 29 rebounds. 

The Blue Hose return to action on Thursday, Feb. 3 when they travel to UNC Asheville for a 7 p.m. matchup.