March 10, 2025
Photo Credits: HPU Athletics
For the first time in program history, the High Point University men’s basketball team won the Big South Conference tournament on Sunday, solidifying its spot in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
Since transitioning to NCAA Division 1 in the 1999-2000 season, the Panthers have made the Big South Conference tournament championship game only twice prior to this season. Their last appearance in the championship game was in 2004 in a contest that resulted in High Point losing 89-44 to Liberty University.
High Point’s first showing in the Big South championship game came in 2002, which also resulted in a loss for the Panthers, 70-48, to Winthrop University.
However, third time’s a charm, as the Panthers, led by a magnificent second-half comeback, defeated Winthrop, 81-69, at the host site of the tournament in Johnson City, Tenn. to advance to the “Big Dance” for the first time in school history.
Heading into the five-day tournament that started on Wednesday, HPU went into Johnson City as the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year after an incredible 26-5 overall record, and 14-2 conference record, regular season.
A year ago to the day, March 9th, the Panthers were in the same position heading into the tournament, as the No. 1 seed, after earning the outright Big South Conference regular season championship. Dreams were crushed, however, as HPU fell short in the Big South Conference tournament by a singular point, 80-79, in overtime to Longwood University. It was a difficult loss for the Panthers as they were still seeking their first March Madness appearance.
Coach Alan Huss and the Panthers worked the next year to get back to the tournament and change the outcome of last season’s shortcomings by winning it this year.
HPU lost its leading scorer from last season at 17.5 points per game, Duke Miles, to the transfer portal which was a huge hit to what Huss was hoping to build for the 2024-25 season. However, it did not take long for the Panthers to replace what was lost by making moves themselves to build a roster that could get HPU over the hump and finally make the NCAA tournament.
The Panthers added four key transfers who ended up being vital in HPU’s success this season. Terry Anderson from Lamar University, Chase Johnston from Florida Gulf Coast University, D’Maurian Williams from Texas Tech University, and Bobby Pettiford from East Carolina University. They were all brought into Huss’ vision of an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament heading into his second year as head coach.
All four transfers were crucial at different points of the season, but it was Bobby Pettiford that emerged late in the season and ended up being the biggest contributing factor in the championship win on Sunday.
Pettiford is accustomed to the big spotlight and pressure in moments when it matters most, as he helped the University of Kansas cut down the nets in the national championship game his freshman, 2021-22, season.
Pettiford’s experience of already tasting success at the highest level was essential for the Panthers because unlike any of the other players on the team, he knew what it would take to hold up that Big South championship trophy and it showed against Winthrop. He scored a game-high 17 points including 11 when it counted most, in the second half, in 29 minutes off the bench for HPU.
Those 11 second-half points from Pettiford were much needed for HPU as the Panthers headed into the halftime tunnel down by double-digits, 39-29.
Pettiford had faced large, double-digit, halftime deficits before. Back in that 2022 national championship game between Kansas and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina controlled the entire first 20 minutes, and had Pettiford and Kansas, on their heels, trailing going into the second half, 40-25. That deficit was quickly cut as Kansas went on a dazzling 31-10 scoring run that eventually helped propel Kansas to victory, 72-69.
The second half for the Panthers did not start off any better as Winthrop jumped out to a 15-point lead, 48-33. Over the next eight minutes of gameplay, however, it was all HPU as the Panthers surged on a 22-4 scoring run to help them take a 55-52 lead. HPU refused to take its foot off the pedal, similar to how Kansas did against North Carolina, as they led the rest of the game, and soared to victory.
As the final seconds ticked down, the anticipation grew until the game clock hit double zeros as the HPU players rushed the court in celebratory fashion. A double-digit deficit at halftime turned into a double-digit win for the Panthers.
The remarkable victory, the team’s first Big South championship trophy, clinched an automatic bid into the tournament that HPU has been striving for 25 years for since joining Division 1.
Along with Pettiford’s stellar play, especially when it mattered most late in the second half, Kezza Giffa, Trae Benham, Abdoulaye Thiam, and Anderson were also monumental in the triumph.
Giffa scored 16 points in only 20 minutes of action, Thiam recorded 12 points including two second-half three-pointers and four game-sealing free throws at the end of the game. Benham added eight points and finished with a game-high in rebounds with 10, and Anderson finished with eight points, all coming in the second half, to go along with five rebounds.
HPU was the third school to punch their automatic ticket (31 automatic tickets) into the NCAA tournament.
The Panthers will have to wait a week from their victory on Sunday to know their seeding in the tournament as the revealing of the 68 qualifying team’s seeds will take place on Selection Sunday which is Sunday, March 16 at 6 p.m. on CBS television network.
Following Selection Sunday, the first round of the tournament will begin Wednesday, March 20.
Can HPU be the Cinderella team of this year’s NCAA tournament that will make a deep run in the “Big Dance?”
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