BOX SCORE

RADFORD, Va. – Danny Nieman's free throw with five tenths of a second remaining lifted Coastal Carolina over Radford 52-51 in Big South men's basketball action Saturday evening at the Dedmon Center.

After Logan Johnson's free throws tied the game 51-51 with 17 seconds to go, he forced a Highlander turnover at the other end and fed the ball ahead to Nieman, who was fouled while attempting a game-winning shot in the lane with less than a second left.

Trailing by 16 at the break, Radford (14-11, 10-5 Big South) opened the second half on a 17-3 run to cut the deficit to two, 40-38, with 11:39 left.

During the Highlanders' streak, Amir Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Quaker Valley) became the Big South's all-time assist leader (568) when he fed backcourt mate Blake Smith (Charlotte, N.C./United Faith Christian) for a 15-foot jumper at the 16:41 mark.

After Coastal Carolina (22-5, 12-3 Big South) stretched its advantage back to seven, 48-41, on Nieman's only bucket of the contest, the Highlanders responded with a 10-1 spurt and grabbed their first lead (50-49) of the contest on Art Parakhouski's (Minsk, Belarus) dunk with 1:46 left.

“I'm extremely proud of our team,” said Radford head coach Brad Greenberg. “We had an extraordinary second half, holding one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country to just three field goals.”

In addition to holding the Chanticleers without a field goal for the first 9:08 of the second half, Radford limited them to just 16 percent (3-19) shooting after intermission.

“Our team showed tremendous grit and heart. And while we're disappointed, we took another step forward as a team.”

Parakhouski led the Highlanders with 16 points, while Laz Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) joined him in double figures with 13. Both Parakhouski and Trifunovic finished with a game-high 9 rebounds.

Coastal Carolina, which drilled 10 of its first 17 attempts from the floor, raced out to a 22-5 advantage and stretched it to as many as 18 (37-19) before heading to the half with a 37-21 lead.

Along with shooting 52 percent in the first 20 minutes of action, the Chanticleers held Radford to just 31 percent and forced 14 turnovers.

Mario Edwards (13) and Chad Gray (12) were the only players to hit the 10-point plateau for the Chanticleers, who stretched their Big South lead to two games over the Highlanders with three to play.

“This has some influence on where we might have to play a postseason game, but certainly doesn't determine our fate,” Greenberg said.

The Highlanders, who connected on 53 percent of their shots in the final period, finished with a commanding 41-26 advantage on the glass. Coastal Carolina entered the contest leading the league in rebounding margin (+7.3).

Both clubs shot just over 50 percent from the charity stripe.

Radford will play its final road game of the 2009-10 regular season Tuesday evening when it travels to Liberty for a 7 p.m. televised (MASN / ESPN Full Court) contest.