Complete Game Notes
THE GAME
North Carolina Central University looks to finish its two-game road swing on a high note after its gutsy 79-70 victory over Howard University over the weekend as the Eagles step out of league play for a Monday night showdown against the High Point Panthers from the Big South Conference. NCCU has become road warriors with a 4-1 mark in its last five road contests.
THE SERIES
NCCU and High Point are meeting for the fifth time in program history with the Panthers holding on to a 4-0 edge in the series. HPU swept the home-and-home matchup last season with a 12-point (70-58) win over the Eagles on Dec. 29, 2009, and squeaked out 58-55 win on Jan. 11, 2010 in McDougald-McLendon Gym. NCCU is 3-9 all-time vs. the Big South Conference having faced just four of the league’s 10 teams.
HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY “PANTHERS”
High Point University enters Monday night’s non-conference affair with a 8-13 record overall while sitting 6-7 in the Big South Conference. The Panthers are led by second year head coach Scott Cherry who 23-28 overall during his short tenure at HPU. The Panthers enter the fifth meeting between these two winners of three-straight contests after a Saturday night 72-70 win over conference foe Radford at the Millis Center. Junior guard Shay Shine led the Panthers with 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the outside, while leading scorer Nick Barbour came off the bench to drop in 14 points despite going 2-for-11 from three-point range against the Highlanders. Freshman forward Du’Vaughn Maxwell contributed 11 pts in the win for HPU. The victory brought High Point within a game of Asheville, Charleston Southern, and Winthrop who are in a log jam for third in the league at 7-6. NCCU’s opponent on Feb. 17, Coastal Carolina University, is undefeated in league play at 13-0. After 22 games, High Point’s leading scorer is junior shooting guard Nick Barbour who ranks fifth in the Big South Conference in scoring at 16.4 points a game. Teammate Shay Shine is right behind him at 14th in the conference averaging 13.1 points per game. Sophomore Corey Law is a beast on the boards for the Panthers ranking fifth in the league with 7.8 rebounds per game.
UP NEXT
The Eagles have seven days off before its next contest as NCCU takes on Coppin State in a return match on Valentine’s Day, Monday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. The Eagles beat Coppin State in Baltimore, Md. 77-71 on Jan. 15. Following that contest, NCCU hits the road for its final non-conference game of the year against Coastal Carolina, which as of Sunday, Feb. 6 was ranked in the top ten of the Mid-Major top 25 with a 22-2 record overall, 13-0 in the Big South. The second meeting between the Chanticleers and the Eagles is set for Thursday, Feb 17 at 7:00 p.m. from Kimbel Arena in Conway, S.C.
