HPU Basketball starts the season off strong

By Ryan, December 11, 2015

By Eric Wallace, Staff Writer//
The 2015-2016 High Point University basketball season is officially underway.
HPU had its first home game of the season in men’s basketball that ended in a victory on Sunday, Nov. 15. The High Point Panthers defeated the North Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishops 93 to 69 in the Millis Center.
“We’ll take the win,” said Scott Cherry, head men’s basketball coach, in an interview with High Point Athletics after the game. “We came out, we won the game, we’ll be happy with that and move on.”
Red shirt senior John Brown largely dominated the game. Brown scored the most points on either team and had the most blocks.
Junior Jorge Perez-Laham had the most assists with Junior Anthony Lindauer getting the most steals.
It was also the first home game of the season for the team’s newest players, freshmen Ricky Madison, Andre Fox, Dexter Gooding and sophomore Jordan Whitehead.
“I was pretty nervous when I first came in,” Madison said. “When I first got the jitters out I felt comfortable and felt like I was back at home playing in front of fans.”
Despite the win, Cherry feels that the team needs to improve as it approaches conference games. He noted that rebounding is something that the team needs to work on.
“Twenty-two offensive rebounds for them is too many,” Cherry said after the North Carolina Wesleyan game. “We’re trying to continue to get better each and every day, whether it’s a game or it’s a practice so I think we took a step back in certain areas.”
The first home game of the season came on the heels of a tight loss to Texas Tech just a few nights before. The Panthers were able to find their footing after the North Carolina Wesleyan game and went on to defeat Drexel University and Western Carolina University 75 to 66 and 75 to 69 respectively.
Brown has been key in the past few seasons for the team’s wins and is expected to continue playing a major role this season.
“From my standpoint he is the best player that I’ve ever played with,” Lindauer said. “On the floor and off the floor, he’s usually the first one to practice and I know he works his tail off in the weight room. Teams know that JB is our number one guy.”
Brown was recently announced as the Big South Player of the Week as well as added to the Lou Henson and Julius Erving Watch List.
“John affects the game in so many different ways,” Cherry said “There’s a lot of little things he does over the course of the game where when you watch the tape and go ‘Holy Smokes’ he did something that he doesn’t get the direct result on this sheet but his teammates got the results from.”
Cherry says the team will continue to practice and improve as the season goes on. The Panthers face some difficult teams this year including Georgia, NC State and William and Mary.
For the team’s full schedule, please visit highpointpanthers.com.