BOX SCORE

HARRISONBURG, Va. – After Radford scored eight points in 32 seconds to tie the contest, Pierre Curtis' two free throws with 16 seconds remaining proved to be the difference as James Madison held off the Highlanders 67-63 in non-conference men's basketball action Monday at the Convocation Center.

Trailing 47-40, the Dukes outscored Radford 23-8 over the next 12 minutes and 30 seconds to grab their largest lead of the contest, 63-55, with 49 seconds to go.

The Highlanders' flurry of eight unanswered started and ended with 3-pointers from Amir Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Quaker Valley) to tie the score 63-63 with 17 ticks remaining.

“I'm really proud of how hard we played and the way we fought back to tie the score,” said Radford head coach Brad Greenberg.

Radford's Laz Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) had a chance to tie the contest with one second to go, but missed the first of two free throws and was forced to intentionally miss the second, which failed to hit the rim.

Despite the setback, the Highlanders placed five in double figures, led by Trifunovic's sixth double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) of the year. Blake Smith (Charlotte, N.C./United Faith Christian) added 13 points; Art Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) had 12, while Gorkem Sonmez (Istanbul, Turkey/St. Mary's Ryken (Md.)) and Johnson finished with 11 each.

“I like the fact we had five guys in double figures and played aggressively, despite losing Phillip (Martin) to an early ankle injury and having Joey's (Lynch-Flohr) minutes reduced due to foul trouble.”

Johnson also recorded eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes of action.

“I like how aggressive Amir played tonight and thought Laz had a very strong all-around game.”

Along with Darren Wells' game-high 18 points, James Madison's Denzel Bowles charted his seventh double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Julius Wells also hit the 10-point plateau for the Dukes with 15.

The Highlanders built their lead to as many as nine (31-22) on a Smith three from the corner, but James Madison closed the opening half on an 8-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 33-30 at the break.

Trifunovic's 12 points and seven rebounds in the first half led Radford (10-9), which connected on eight of its first 13 shots from the floor, including a pair of treys.

On the heels of going 1-for-22 from distance against Liberty Saturday, Radford knocked down a season-high nine 3-pointers, including three each from Smith, Sonmez and Johnson.

After the Dukes scored the first six points of the second half to grab their first lead of the contest, 36-33, Radford went on a 14-4 run including consecutive 3-pointers from Smith and Sonmez to go back in front by seven, 47-40, at the 11:03 mark.

“We only turned it over 14 times, but didn't take advantage of some possessions,” Greenberg said.

The Dukes' concluded the contest 10 of 18 from the charity stripe, while Radford missed its only two tries.

JMU finished with a 47-39 advantage on the glass.

Tonight's contest was originally scheduled for Dec. 19 but was postponed due to hazardous travel conditions caused by last month's snowstorm.

Radford will continue its stretch of five games in 10 days and four-game road trip Thursday evening with a 7 p.m. contest at Gardner-Webb.