HIGH POINT, N.C. – Nevin Zink (Newtown, Conn.) tied his career high in points with 21 and added 12-rebounds to complete his fourth career double-double, but it was not enough as High Point defeated USC Upstate 63-52 in the Millis Center on Wednesday evening.
 
Zink scored the first bucket for either team at the 18:06 mark of the opening half. Both teams had a bit of a slow start as High Point held (3-5, 1-2 BSC) an early 6-2 advantage at the under 16:00 media timeout. The offense began to pick-up a little bit but not much as the Panthers took a 13-10 lead into the under 12 media timeout.
 
The Spartan offense began to heat up as Dalvin White (Norcross, Ga.) and Everette Hammond (Silver Springs, Md.) knocked down a pair of shots for USC Upstate (0-9, 0-3 BSC). After the under eight media timeout the two squads traded baskets for the remainder of the period and High Point took a 36-28 lead into the halftime intermission.
 
Zink led the Spartans with a 10-point, 8-rebound performance, White added 7-points and Hammond contributed 6-points off the bench. High Point's Denny Slay II had 13-point to lead all-scorers in the opening half of play.
 
With 18:30 to play White hit his second three-pointer of the game and cut the Panthers lead to 38-31. After an early timeout by USC Upstate the Spartans drew up the perfect play, as Tommy Bruner (Columbia, S.C.) found Zink for the wide-open slam. Going into the under 16 media timeout the Spartans trailed 42-36.
 
At the 14:45 mark of the second half, Bruner hit his first bucket of the game with a near corner three-pointer. The three-pointer sparked a 7-0 run by the Spartans as they pulled within a pair of High Point at 42-40. A few moments later Zink hauled in his 10^th rebound of the game to secure his first double-double of the season.
 
The Spartan offense was unable to click down the stretch as High Point won the game 63-52. Upstate held the Panthers offense to just 5-15 shooting in the second half, but 17 made free throws proved to be the difference maker in a close contest.
 
Zink led all-scorers with a 21-point (tied career high), 12-rebound effort and completed his fourth career double-double as a Spartan. White added 10-points, while Hammond contributed 9-points off the bench.
 
High Point had a trio of players end the game in double-figures, Slay II led the way with 17-points, Ahmil Flowers added 13-points with the bulk of his points coming at the free throw line. Lydell Elmore completed the Panthers double-digit scoring with an 11-point, 7-rebound (team high) effort.
 
UP next for the Spartans
The Spartans will play High Point again tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. 
 
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