High Point staves off Charleston Southern surge, wins eighth straight

 

(Photo:  Brian Wilmer/Daly Dose of Hoops)

HIGH POINT, N.C. – It’s never good to find out two days before a game that a player will be unavailable. It’s even worse when that player is the second-leading scorer in your conference.

Such was the predicament in which High Point found itself going into Saturday’s game against Charleston Southern. Point guard Duke Miles, who averages greater than 19 points per game, was unavailable for the Panthers, leaving a sizable hole in the High Point offense. Luckily for the home side, Kezza Giffa was in its lineup.

Giffa scored 29 points on 13-of-15 tries from the free throw line, while forward Kimani Hamilton tallied a career-high 26 to help the Panthers hold off the persistent Buccaneers, 86-79, before an announced crowd of 4,768 at the Qubein Center. The win was the eighth straight for the Panthers.

“I’m proud of our guys’ effort to come out there and fight like we did,” High Point coach Alan Huss said after the game. “We weren’t perfect tonight, by any stretch of the imagination, but to fight like we did without (Miles) and have a short prep without him was a testament to our guys’ character.”

“Usually, we all kind of defer to Duke, with a little Kezza. Tonight, we got a lot of Kezza and a little Kimani down the stretch.”

High Point (16-4, 5-0 Big South) shook off Miles’ absence and charged out of the gate. The Panthers unfurled a 14-2 run after the visiting Buccaneers knocked down the game’s opening bucket. High Point held its 10-point advantage for several minutes until Charleston Southern countered with an 8-0 run of its own to slice the deficit to a single bucket at the 10:44 mark of the first half.

Charleston Southern (8-12, 2-3) surrendered a 13-5 run that again placed High Point ahead by 10 with 7:43 remaining in the half. The lead remained in double figures for much of the rest of the first half, with Hamilton affording High Point its largest lead of the night at 45-28 with 2:41 left in the opening stanza. The visiting Buccaneers worked the lead down to nine, which High Point held at the interval.

High Point continued to surge into the second half, maintaining a double-digit lead two minutes into the period. Charleston Southern surged, keyed by a three-pointer from R.J. Johnson that worked the deficit into single figures. The Bucs used the momentum from the Johnson triple to tear off a 13-0 run, with a Taje Kelly jumper giving the lead at 57-56 with 14:43 remaining. The lead was Charleston Southern’s first since the opening bucket.

“Hats off to Charleston Southern,” Huss said. “I thought we had a chance to really blow them out late in the first half, and they took our best shot there and really rebounded. They made things very difficult. They came back and took a couple leads. They’re gonna be a tough game for everybody in the league.”

The game remained within one possession before a Giffa trey with 10:08 to play that put the Panthers ahead by four. Charleston Southern continued to battle, gradually drawing the game level at 75 on a Kelly jumper with 4:03 left.  That Kelly shot set the stage – again – for Giffa.

The junior from Paris drove the lane and converted a bucket, finishing through contact. The contact earned Giffa a try from the line, which he put home. The three-point sequence gave High Point a lead it would not surrender and served as one of three moments that helped stave off the Buccaneers.

“To lead the way he’s leading – in a second language on top of it – it’s really impressive,” Huss said. “We would be completely lost without him. He stepped up to the plate and delivered for us.”

After Charleston Southern had a chance to again tie the game, Abdoulaye Thiam canned a triple with 2:11 left that put High Point ahead by six. The Buccaneers knifed the Panther lead to four on two Kelly free throws 30 seconds later, but Hamilton put an end to the Charleston Southern hopes with a three at the 48 second mark to put a halt to the Bucs’ charge.

Giffa’s 29 led the Panthers and all scorers. The French point guard connected on 7-of-19 from the deck and 13-of-15 from the line. Hamilton finished one carom shy of a double-double to accompany his 26 points. Thiam contributed 16 on a 5-of-8 night, hitting all four of his free throw tries. The Panthers shot 40.6 percent (26-for-64) on the evening, hitting 29 percent (8-of-28) from distance. High Point finished 26-of-33 on free throw tries.

Johnson paced Charleston Southern, booking 27 points on 9-of-20 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the line. Kelly knocked down 7-of-17 from the field and 8-of-11 from the line to finish with 23. A’lahn Sumler pitched in 14, hitting 4-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from the line. The Buccaneers shot 45.5 percent (25-for-55), including 50 percent (6-for-12) from bonus territory. Charleston Southern also hit 79.3 percent (23-for-29) of its free throw tries.

Both sides head to South Carolina for Wednesday contests. High Point will board the buses for Spartanburg, S.C., to battle USC Upstate in Big South action. Game time is set for 7:00 (Eastern) inside the G.B. Hodge Center, with streaming coverage over ESPN+. Charleston Southern returns home to the Buc Dome to square off with Winthrop. That game is set for a 7:00 tip and will also stream on ESPN+.

HIGH POINT 86, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 79

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (6-12, 2-3 BIG SOUTH)

Clinton 0-2 2-2 2, Kelly 7-17 8-11 23, Duhart 1-1 2-2 5, Sumler 4-8 4-6 14, Johnson 9-20 7-7 27, Thompson 3-4 0-0 6, Days 1-3 0-1 2. Totals 25-55 23-29 79.

HIGH POINT (16-4, 5-0)

Hamilton 9-20 5-8 26, Bodo Bodo 1-1 1-2 3, Giffa 7-19 13-15 29, Benham 2-8 1-2 5, Thiam 5-8 4-4 16, Dziuba 0-0 0-0 0, Sargiunas 1-6 2-2 4, Hines 1-2 0-0 3, Potter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 26-33 86.

Halftime:  High Point 47-38. 3-Point goals:  High Point 8-28 (Hamilton 3-8, Giffa 2-7, Benham 0-6, Thiam 2-3, Sargiunas 0-3, Hines 1-1), Charleston Southern 6-12 (Kelly 1-2, Duhart 1-1, Sumler 2-4, Johnson 2-5). Fouled out:  Sumler (CSU), Thompson (CSU). Rebounds:  High Point 41 (Hamilton 9), Charleston Southern 32 (Kelly 8). Assists: Charleston Southern 8 (Johnson 4), High Point 8 (Giffa 5). Total fouls:  Charleston Southern 24, High Point 21. Technicals:  NA.

Points off turnovers:  High Point 13, Charleston Southern 8.  Points in the paint:  High Point 34, Charleston Southern 32.  Second-chance points:  High Point 24, Charleston Southern 6.  Fast-break points:  High Point 10, Charleston Southern 4.  Bench points:  Charleston Southern 8, High Point 7.