CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern put itself in position for a win over Big South preseason favorite High Point, but the Panthers reeled off a 9-0 run and held the Bucs scoreless for the final 4:24 to register a 78-73 win at the Buc Dome on Saturday.

PDF BOX SCORE - High Point 78, CSU 73

CSU (5-9, 1-2 Big South) played some of its best basketball of the season to build a 48-40 halftime lead after falling behind 20-7 less than six minutes in. The Bucs scored 13 straight points to move in front at the 5:06 mark of the opening stanza, and maintained the advantage until the final two-and-a-half minutes.

Big South Preseason Player of the Year John Brown helped High Point (11-4, 4-0 Big South) hang around with a game-high 27 points. Lorenzo Cugini's three-pointer from the left wing gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half, 74-73, with 2:29 remaining. Cugini scored on a layup on High Point's next possession, and the Panthers strung together several stops and forced turnovers to win in Charleston for the first time since 2009.

Aaron Wheeler paced CSU with a near double-double of 18 points and nine rebounds. The Bucs' veteran played his best game of the season, adding four assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Demetrius Pollard scored 18 points as well, and knocked down a season-high five threes.

CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh remarked on a strong effort that come up just shy of the win column in its first of 16 straight conference games.

"That's a very good, very experienced team that's been through a lot of battles and that was evident the last few minutes of the game," said Radebaugh of High Point. "They were able to execute better than we were. I thought our team played extremely well and extremely hard for 37 and a half minutes. It's a great lesson for us that we've got to learn to finish for 40 minutes."

CSU outscored High Point, 41-20, over the final 13:48 of the first half, responding after the Panthers hit six of their first nine shots to sprint out to a 13-point edge. Anthony Lindauer and Cugini both nailed treys to cap High Point's hot start.

High Point still led by ten following a Lindauer layup at the 7:48 mark. CSU answered with a 13-0 run over the ensuing 2:59, though, to take control. Wheeler energized the Bucs with a pair of free throws, a steal that led to a Pollard fast break three, and a lay-in for the first seven points of the stretch. Patrick Wallace made two free throws, and Danny Upchurch drilled a long triple to stake the Bucs to a 35-33 lead.

The Bucs' sterling run eventually stretched to 21-2, highlighted by Pollard's floater and a Wheeler corner trey off a drive-and-kick by Upchurch. Ugo Mmonu sparked CSU with four straight points to end the half, and pulled down a team-high three offensive rebounds to help the Bucs post a 19-11 advantage on the glass. Mmonu threw down a two-handed dunk follow off a Wallace miss, and banked in a shot over Brown just before the halftime buzzer.

Wheeler's put back started the second half scoring and gave CSU the largest lead of the night for other side. High Point threatened throughout the first 16 minutes of the second half, but CSU answered several times to maintain the lead.

Pollard sailed home a pair of threes to push the CSU lead back to six points over the first six minutes of the second stanza. High Point again whittled its deficit to three on an Andre Fox three midway through the half, but Upchurch and Wheeler scored on drives to push the lead back out to seven. Rae Robinson drained a contested corner three to nudge the margin to 69-61 with 8:13 left.

High Point tallied 17 of the game's final 21 points, however, to spoil a solid CSU effort. Brown sandwiched a pair of inside scores around an Adam Weary three, and notched a three-point play on the latter to tie the game with 5:47 to play. Javis Howard and Reuben King countered with baskets for CSU, before High Point frustrated the Bucs over the closing stretch.

"There's a difference between disappointment and discouragement," Radebaugh said. "We're disappointed in the result but we played really well for 20 minutes tonight. I thought we played well for 37 and a half minutes, and as well as we have all year for about a 20-minute stretch. We moved the ball, made shots, hustled and made some plays defensively. For a young team to be able to play the preseason favorite and a veteran team to a one possession game into the final 30 seconds is encouraging. I really believe this will be a good basketball team come tournament time. We've just got to come back and keep working."

CSU hits the road on Wednesday to meet Radford. Tipoff at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va. is set for 7 p.m.