Following a school record 31-win season which included the first NCAA tournament win in program history, expectations couldn’t be much higher for year two of High Point basketball under Flynn Clayman. If Saturday afternoon’s exhibition was any indication, the Panthers may be even more dangerous in the 2026-27 season.
HPU trailed for just 28 seconds as it defeated CAA favorite, UNC Wilmington, 92-71 in a rematch of last season’s preseason opener. The Panthers shot 56.9% overall and 39.3% (11-for-28) on 3-pointers. The only true blemish of the afternoon was HPU’s free throw shooting, which finished 15-for-34.
Returner Braden Hausen finished with a game-high 18 points on 4-for-11 shooting from 3-point range. Marquee offseason acquisition CJ Brown tallied 14 points and 6 assists in his first action as the Panthers’ lead point guard. Big South Preseason Player of the Year Cam’Ron Fletcher added 12 points and 7 rebounds.
The fireworks were flying early in the Qubein Center. Oakland transfer forward Isaac Garrett kicked off the scoring by slamming down an alley oop from Brown. Fellow Kennesaw State transfer forward Frankquon Sherman scored the next two baskets on yet another alley oop and a thunderous one-handed slam.
UNCW boasted a preseason conference player of the year of their own in true 7-footer Patrick Wessler. The Panthers struggled in the early going to contain Wessler’s activity in the paint facilitating the offense. Matters seemed to progress for the worse when Fletcher picked up two early fouls in the game’s first few minutes. High Point was unfazed though and seized control of the lead shortly after thanks to the hyperactivity of its backcourt.
Brown knocked down a pair of triples and returning guard Conrad Martinez converted two transition layups of his own to create some breathing room. True freshman Trey Pearson made his presence felt with active hands defensively that slowed down the Seahawks’ pace of attack. The Panthers finished with a 13-3 turnover margin in the first half and 18-7 overall, picking up right where they left off after finishing second nationally in turnover margin last season.
HPU missed several of their first few 3-point attempts and initially looked lost from deep without sharpshooters Jason Rivera-Torres, Liam Campbell, and Curtis Williams, who all sat out Saturday’s game due to injury. Naturally, the Panthers’ first two triples came from versatile big man Filip Brankovic, who made an additional 3-pointer to help close out a 49-36 halftime lead.
An initially slow start to the second half was reined in by scoring from Pearson and Braden Hausen rediscovering his 3-point stroke. As the game progressed, the HPU big man rotation also found their footing despite giving up four inches in height to Wessler. The Seahawks finished with a 39-32 rebounding edge, but it was the Panthers who claimed a 42-24 paint points advantage.
Garrett once again almost brought the house down on a seemingly impossible alley oop slam from a Hausen assist to stake HPU to a 20-point advantage. The Panther lead dipped no lower than 12 points in the second half and ballooned to 22 points near the end of the game.
The Panthers will travel to Johnson City to face the East Tennessee State Buccaneers on Sunday, October 25 for the final exhibition match of the preseason. HPU will begin its season as the first game of the college basketball regular season on U.S. soil when it faces Liberty in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon at midnight on Monday, November 2.