HIGH POINT, N.C. – Jonah Pierce and Triston Wilson paced the Blue Hose with 25 points apiece, Presbyterian (11-12, Big South: 4-4) battled the High Point Panthers (19-4, Big South: 7-1) down to the wire before falling 84-81 on the road in front of a national TV audience on ESPNU.

Pierce tallied a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Wilson scored his career-high 25 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field and 9-for-10 shooting from the free-throw line. Carl Parrish rounded out Presbyterian's double-figure scorers with 15 points.  

HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF – Pierce scored Presbyterian's first two points. Over the first five minutes, there were several ties and lead changes. With 14:46 on the clock, High Point led 11-10, the Blue Hose behind five straight points from Wilson, forged ahead 15-11. At the 11-minute clock, High Point had regained the lead, 19-17. Behind the scoring of Parrish, who scored five points, and Josh Pickett, Presbyterian scored eight of the next 10 points, taking a 25-21 lead. High Point scored nine of the next 13 points taking a 30-28 lead. High Point would eventually push its lead to six points. With 1:55 on the clock, High Point led 40-34, after baskets in the paint from Parrish and Pierce and a three from Parrish, Presbyterian had a 41-40 lead with 30 ticks left on the clock. High Point converted on a layup with four seconds on the clock to take a 42-41 halftime lead.

SECOND HALF – Two free throws from Wilson pushed the Blue Hose back in front early in the half. High Point scored 11 of the next 15 points, taking a 53-47 lead at the 15:48 mark. The Blue Hose scored four straight points to get within two points of High Point. The Panthers would eventually push their lead to nine points on two occasions.  With 2:34 on the clock, High Point held a 78-70 lead, a three from Parrish and four points from Wilson got PC within three points, 80-77, with 29 seconds left on the clock. However, High Point closed out the three-point win, converting on several free throws in the final 20 seconds of the game.
 
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

• Pierce's 25 points and 10 rebounds marked his Big South leading 12^th double-double of the season.
• Wilson's 25 points marked his 10^th double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Parrish's 15 points was his 16^th double-digit scoring game of the season.
• Presbyterian recorded a team season high tying seven blocked shots in the game. Jaylen Peterson recorded four blocked shots in the game. Pierce collected three blocked shots.  

 
NEXT GAME
Presbyterian returns to the Templeton Center to play Radford this Saturday, January 31, at 2 p.m.