BOX SCORE
RADFORD, Va. – Quinn McDowell scored a career-high 27 points, including six of William & Mary's 15 three-pointers as the Tribe held off Radford 70-68 for its eighth consecutive victory Tuesday evening at the Dedmon Center.
The Highlanders cut the lead to 69-68 on a layup from Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) with 26 seconds left. Kendrix Brown then made 1-of-2 free throws for the Tribe, but Radford missed three potential game-tying attempts on its final possession.
“William & Mary is an excellent three-point shooting team,” said Radford head coach Brad Greenberg. “Their 15 three-point field goals gave them the edge to win the game,”
Art Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) led three Highlanders in double figures with 24 points. The nation's top rebounder and 10th leading scorer finished 10-of-12 from the floor en route to his eighth 20-point effort of the season. Trifunovic recorded his second straight double-double with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while Amir Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Quaker Valley) chipped in a season-high 12 points.
David Schneider, who added 20 points, also knocked in six buckets from long range for the Tribe.
Radford (5-4) hit 45.0 percent (27 of 60) of its attempts from the floor and 7-of-16 (.438) from three-point range, but converted just half of its tries from the charity stripe.
The Highlanders finished with 18 assists, including a season-high seven from Blake Smith (Charlotte, N.C./United Faith Christian).
“I'm disappointed but encouraged," Greenberg said. "I thought we played hard and pretty well. We took good care of the basketball and had good ball movement, which led to high percentage shots.”
After Radford scored six unanswered to grab its largest advantage of the evening at 49-43, the Tribe responded with a 16-3 flurry highlighted by 10 points from McDowell to go back in front for good.
Down by as many as eight with just over seven minutes to play, Radford slowly chipped away and cut the deficit to two (66-64) on Johnson's fade away jumper in the lane with 3:01 left.
The next trip down the floor, Brown stretched the Tribe's advantage back to four with his second three-pointer of the night.
The opening 20 minutes featured five ties and six lead changes before the Tribe headed to the locker room with a 37-35 lead.
William & Mary (8-2) canned nine treys in the first half, including four from McDowell as he led all players at the break with 14 points.
Radford answered the Tribe's 13-2 run to start the contest with a 17-3 streak capped off by a Johnson trey, which gave the Highlanders their first lead, 19-16.
The two clubs combined for 23 assists (RU – 11 / W&M – 12) on 28 field goals in the first half.
Despite the loss, Radford outrebounded the Tribe 43-30, including 14 on the offensive end. Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax), the reigning Big South Player of the Week, also contributed double-digit rebounds for the Highlanders with 13 (six offensive).
Radford continues its tough non-conference slate with a 1 p.m. televised contest (ESPN Full Court / ESPN360.com) at Louisville on Sunday afternoon.
