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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Following its win over Coastal Carolina in a matchup of two of the Big South's top three teams, Radford concludes its road trip through South Carolina on Saturday when the Highlanders travel to Charleston Southern for a 7:30 p.m. contest.

The Highlanders' (9-6, 5-1 Big South) 62-52 win over the Chanticleers on Thursday night moved them to within a half game of first place (Radford owns tiebreaker) in the conference standings. Coastal Carolina, which had won 12 straight, suffered its first league loss of the season, falling to 6-1, while High Point (4-2), which had a chance to tie Radford in the standings, dropped a game at Charleston Southern.

Thursday's win gave Radford its 14th in its last 16 Big South regular season games and its 20th in the last 23.

Radford, the defending Big South regular season champions, now travels farther south to face the conference's only unbeaten team at home in Charleston Southern (9-8, 4-3). The Buccaneers are 7-0 at CSU Field House in 2009-10 and off to their best Big South start since 2004-05.

Charleston Southern is 4-1 since Big South play resumed on Jan. 2.

The Highlanders, which lead the series with Charleston Southern 39-19 all-time, are winners of three in a row against the Buccaneers and seven of the last nine. Last season, Radford claimed an 82-53 decision over Charleston Southern in the final game at Peters Hall on Jan. 12, and an 80-71 win at CSU Field House on Feb. 16.

In Thursday's win, Radford got it done with defense – Coastal Carolina finished the game shooting 32 percent from the floor, the fourth Big South team to hit 38 percent or less from the floor against the Highlanders this season. The Chanticleers only connected on 2 of 16 from behind the three-point line, while Radford finished the game with five blocked shots, led by Art Parakhouski's (Minsk, Belarus) three.

Parakhouski, who enters Saturday as the nation's third-leading scorer (23.9) and rebounder (12.7), finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds against the Chanticleers. The effort was his 12th double-double and 20th career 20-point outing.

In addition to Parakhouski's 17th straight double figure outing, Laz Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) and Blake Smith (Charlotte, N.C./United Faith Christian) also hit the 10-point plateau against Coastal with 16 and 10 points, respectively.

Charleston Southern was led by 20 points each from Jeremy Sexton and Kelvin Martin in its win over High Point on Thursday, and overcame High Point's 55 percent shooting by making 22 of its 31 free throws and forcing 20 turnovers. Sexton, the reigning Big South freshman of the week, was 7-for-12 from the field on the way to his fourth straight game of 18 or more points.