HIGH POINT, NC – The William Peace men's basketball team held their own and established a new single-game record making 15 three-pointers against Division I opponent High Point University, but the Panthers were far too dominant down low as they went on to beat the Pacers, 88-71.
Despite their record setting performance from beyond the arc, William Peace had no answer defensively for John Brown and company. High Point scored 70 points in the paint compared to only 16 for the Pacers and shot a blistering 67.9% from the field on 36-53 shooting, the second-highest field goal percentage in the program's Division I history.
HPU also made nine more free throws than the Pacers attempted. The Panthers went 15-24 at the charity stripe, while WPU only produced a 4-6 outing at the line.
Brown, the reigning Big South Player of the Year and 2013-14 AP All-America Honorable Mention selection, scored a game high 16 points on 8-9 shooting to go along with four rebounds and a team high four assists.
"We struggled defensively, but we did some things really well on offense, and if we can do it against those guys then we should be able to do it against the rest of our schedule," said head coach Claude Shields. "John Brown is a tremendous player that will eventually be making money playing somewhere. That kind of wears on you, and you start to worry about that one guy so much that it leads to breakdowns everywhere else."
Ryan Emfinger scored a team high and career best 15 points to go along with a team leading five rebounds. Chris Thomas had 14 points and three rebounds. Bryson Gibsonalso contributed 14 points in addition to a rebound, two assists, and a pair of steals. Mike Wolf scored six and dished out a team high five assists.
Eight different Pacers hit at least one shot from long distance, and in addition to the record for made three-pointers, Peace also set a new high mark for three-point attempts. 41 of WPU's 65 shots came from beyond the arc.
Gibson gave the Pacers a brief 3-2 lead, but it was all High Point in the first half who took a 17 point, 49-32, lead at the half. William Peace tied HPU in the second half, 39-39, but the Pacers never got closer than 16 points after falling behind by as many as 24 at the 8:16 mark.
"We got better today. I'm proud of their effort, the way they played, and once we settled down and made a few shots, we started believing we could compete with them," Shields said. "It was a cool experience and a lot of fun having the opportunity to play in this type of environment, but as big a game as this was, Sunday is another huge game against an ODAC opponent."
The WPU men's basketball team will travel to play Washington & Lee this Sunday. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
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