PHILADELPHIA, PA. 11/18/2015 – The Drexel Dragons fought an uphill battle for most of the game. The Dragons tied the game with 4:12 on the clock on a three-pointer by Tavon Allen at 64. But they could not get the lead. High Point would close the game out making 6 of 6 free throws, and a dagger from beyond the arc by Lorenzo Cugini which proved to be too much to overcome. The High Point Panthers of the Big South Conference earned a 75 – 66 win over the Dragons at the DAC. Drexel (0 – 2) is looking for their first win of the season.
Down the stretch the Dragons committed 3 turnovers once they got even, but missed four of five from the floor.
“Every time we needed to make a play, make a foul shot, come down and execute a play, somebody went to the wrong place,” said Drexel Coach Bruiser Flint. “If we keep doing that we are going to frustrate ourselves. A lot of that is concentration. We knew what we needed to do, get the ball to the big guys, but we missed our foul shots. We have to make better plays in the heat of the game.”
After a good start the Dragons went cold from the field. A three-pointer from Tavon Allen gave Drexel a 15 – 12 lead. That would be their last field goal in nearly five and a half minutes. Meanwhile the Panthers would go on a 12 – 1 run during that span to take a 24 – 16 lead with 6:58 remaining in the first half. Adam Weary had 5 of the High Point markers on his way to 18 points for the game.
The Dragons made a charge in the second half behind three’s from Tavon Allen to tie the score at 50 with 13:11 to play. High Point would find an answer in Weary who scored the next 8 points to wrest control back for the Panthers.
“Allen got heated up,” said High Point Coach Scott Cherry. “Fortunately, we did a good job on him at the end. He took threes, but we blocked out and took care of the ball. It comes down to getting stops and making free throws.”
Turnovers were costly for Drexel as they committed 17 which lead to 22 Panther points. The Dragons forced 9 Panther turnovers but got only 6 points off the miscues.
“We had 17 turnovers,” Flint said. “They were sloppy, guys being in the wrong spot, and that’s what bothers me.”
Drexel also went 14 of 28 from the charity stripe.
Tavon Allen was 6 of 8 from distance on his way to a team-high 21 points.
The Dragons had three other players score in double figures. Terrell Allen and Rashann London scored 11 points each, and Kazembe Abif had 10 along with a team-high 8 rebounds.
Big South Preseason Player of the Year pick John Brown led all scorers with 23 points and rebounders pulling down 9 boards. Cuguni put in 12 points with the biggest being the three from the corner with 59 seconds on the clock giving his team a huge 5-point lead.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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