• The Panthers used an 18-3 second-half run to come from behind and defeat Liberty, 71-60
• Junior Andre Fox (22 points) and sophomore Jahaad Proctor (24) scored 20 or more points each for the fourth time this season
• High Point is 8-1 at the Millis Center this season and have won seven-consecutive home games
HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University men’s basketball used an 18-3 run in the second half and rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat Liberty, 71-60, in a crucial Big South matchup Thursday night (Jan. 18) at the Millis Center.
After Liberty (12-8, 3-4 Big South) hit a three to open the second half, the Panthers (9-9, 4-3 Big South) went on a 9-0 run to cut the margin to four at 38-34 with 16:29 to play. Down eight, 44-36, with 13:11 to go, the Panthers went on an 18-3 run to take a 54-47 lead. Junior Andre Fox had 11 points during the run, including seven straight.
Liberty cut the lead to five on a layup by Lovell Cabbil, but Fox came back with his fifth 3-pointer of the game to extend HPU’s lead to 63-55 and that was as close as the Flames would get the rest of the contest.
Fox scored 22 points, his 10th game this season of 20 or more points, while sophomore Jahaad Proctor had a game-high 24 points to go along with six assists. It was the fourth time this season Fox and Proctor have scored 20 or more points each. Freshman Justyn Mutts did not score, but recorded a season-high 10 rebounds and five assists while adding a pair of blocks.
“I’m really happy about this win,” HPU head coach Scott Cherry said. “Liberty is a tremendous basketball team, very difficult to play and well coached. After the first half, to come out the way our guys did for the second half and the effort from top to bottom was fantastic. Jahaad (Proctor) and (Andre) Fox were tremendous in the second half, Ricky (Madison) played a great game and Justyn (Mutts) impacted the game greatly even though he didn’t get a point. It was a great team win against a very talented team.”
The Panthers shot 50.0 percent from the field while Liberty was 46.5 percent from the field, but only 33.3 percent in the second half. High Point shot 57.1 percent from three-point range, while the Flames were 4-18 (22.2 percent).
In the second half, HPU forced the Flames into 10 turnovers while only committing one. High Point had 17 points off those 10 second-half turnovers.
Junior Ricky Madison added 11 points to give HPU three players in double figures. The Panthers have had three or more players in double digits in all nine wins this year.
The win for High Point snapped a four-game losing streak to the Flames. HPU is 8-1 at the Millis Center and have won seven-consecutive home games.
In the first half, the Flames opened up the game on a 11-2 run over the first 6:40. The Panthers closed the gap to six once, and Liberty ended up going to halftime with a 10-point lead, 35-25.
Myo Baxter-Bell led the Flames with 17 points and was perfect from the floor (6-6) and from the free throw line (5-5).
Next up, the Panthers travel to Farmville, Va., on Sunday (Jan. 21) to take on Longwood at 3 p.m.