CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College men's basketball team battled back-and-forth with league-leading High Point on Monday night, but a big second half from the hot-shooting Panthers handed the Blue Hose a 63-54 loss at the Templeton Center.
PC moves to 7-15 overall, 3-6 in the Big South and hosts Longwood on Saturday night at 7 p.m. High Point improves to 16-5, 7-2 and next plays at Liberty on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Panthers improved on a 31-28 halftime lead with 64.7 percent shooting in the second half, including going 6-for-9 from long range in the final period. The team shot 52.3 percent for the game (23-for-44). PC's defense held the team to 63 points, however, the Panthers' third-lowest output of the season and the team's lowest in a Big South game so far.
Ed Drew (Suffolk, Va.) led PC with 12 points, one shy of his career high. DeSean Murray (Stanley, N.C.) paced PC on the boards, with six, and hit a late three-pointer (his collegiate first) to give him 11 points on the night. The freshman guard has yet to score fewer than double figures in any of his 10 career games. Jordan Downing (Huntersville, N.C.) scored 10 points as well.
Lorenzo Cugini led all players with 15 points. Devante Wallace added 13 points and eight rebounds.
The two sides traded the lead 10 times in the first half before High Point clung to a two-possession lead down the stretch for a 31-28 halftime lead.
Murray led PC in the first half with eight points, including a turnaround jumper to put the home team ahead, 14-10. High Point hit four three-pointers in the first half, however, including one from Adam Weary that put High Point in position to take the lead midway through the frame. Murray made another layup for a 23-22 PC edge at the 6:31 mark, but the Panthers turned to their star John Brown for a jumper that put them in front soon after for the rest of the half. Brown scored 10 points in the first half.
Two William Truss (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) free throws cut the Panthers' lead to one, but the Blue Hose hit only 2 of last 11 field goal attempts and the Panthers took a three-point lead into the locker room.
Downing went long to tie it up at 34-34 early in the second half. PC ran into another scoring drought that turned the tide back to the Panthers for a 6-0 run. High Point beefed up its lead to seven before Drew converted two straight layups to cut the gap to three at three minutes left.
Drew made it a three-point game again with three minutes left, finishing a reverse layup and converting an and-one free throw. Another High Point trey erased the score, however, as Devante Wallace knocked one down from the corner and John Brown hit two free throws shortly on the next possession for a seven-point lead. The Panthers' Lorenzo Cugini then sunk the team's 10th trey of the night, sealing the win.
