WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- William & Mary opened the second half on a 13-0 run and knocked down 28-of-32 free throws en route to a 73-53 victory over Radford in non-conference men's basketball action Tuesday evening at Kaplan Arena.
After the Tribe's lengthy spurt and being held scoreless for the first 6:38 of the final frame, Radford (2-2) reeled off six unanswered of its own to cut the William & Mary (2-3) lead to 43-40 on an Artsiom Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) two-handed jam. A Quinn McDowell three with 10:31 left sparked another Tribe run as they extended their lead back to double digits, not allowing the Highlanders closer than eight the rest of the way.
“I think they did a good job with their match-up zone,” said Radford head coach Brad Greenberg. “They kept us from being able to get the ball tighter to the basket. We just lost control of the game after having it for most of the first half and once they got control of it, we didn't grab it back.”
Radford's Kenny Thomas (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) led all players at the half with 13 points, including all three of his club's buckets from long range. Parakhouski also hit double figures in the first 20 minutes of action scoring 12 points, while making all six of his attempts from the charity stripe.
A David Schneider trey at the 8:53 mark, gave William & Mary its first lead, 15-13, since the opening minute, but Radford responded with an 8-0 run capped by an Eric Hall (Greensboro, N.C./Ben L. Smith) three-point play to give the Highlanders their largest lead of the game, 21-15. The Tribe answered with a small spurt of their own and cut the deficit to one on several occasions, but Thomas' three with 31 seconds remaining in the half gave Radford a 34-30 advantage at the break.
Despite five players with two first-half fouls, the Highlanders connected on 60-percent of their attempts from floor and behind the arc in the opening period.
For the third consecutive contest, Parakhouski paced the Highlanders in scoring with 18 points.
Danny Sumner led three William & Mary players in double figures with a game-high 21 points, while Schneider and Chris Darnell added 16 and 14, respectively. Schneider and Darnell combined to go 16-of-17 from the stripe.
After torching the nets in the first period, Radford shot just 28.6 percent following intermission to finish with a 41.7 percent (20-48) clip. William & Mary also concluded the contest just over 40 percent (19-47) from the field, but missed just two of its 22 attempts from the line in the second half.
“We didn't pressure the ball as well as we would have liked in the second half, but I think our biggest problem was we weren't scoring.”
The Highlanders held a slim 31-30 advantage on the glass. William & Mary turned 20 Radford turnovers into 25 points.
Radford will conclude its first of four three-game road trips this season with a 7 p.m. tip at Navy Saturday evening in Annapolis, Md.
