BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
CONWAY, S.C. – Double-doubles from seniors
Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) and
Art Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) weren't enough as Radford shot just 25 percent from the floor and fell to third-seeded Winthrop 61-46 in the semifinals of the 2010 Big South Men's Basketball Tournament Thursday evening at Kimbel Arena.
After the second-seeded Highlanders (19-12) opened the second half on a 9-2 run to grab their first lead of the contest, 30-28, the Eagles (18-13) responded with a 19-3 run to retake the lead and extend it to 14, 47-33, with 9:34 left.
During its game-changing spurt, Winthrop made all five of its attempts from the floor, including its only three buckets from behind the arc.
Lynch-Flohr finished with a game-high 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds (6 offensive), while Parakhouski recorded his nation-leading 26th 10-point/10-rebound performance with 11 points and a tournament semifinal record 18 rebounds.
Reggie Middleton paced three Winthrop players in double figures with 16 points, while Charles Corbin contributed 11 off the bench and Andy Buechert scored 10 and added a career-high five blocks.
Winthrop, which held the Highlanders to just 27.6 percent (8-for-29) in the opening 20 minutes of action, jumped out to a 10-4 lead and stretched it to as many as nine, 20-11, on back-to-back buckets by Andre Jones, before heading to the half up, 26-21.
Despite its season-low shooting percentage, Radford controlled the glass 48-36, including 21 offensive rebounds, which led to 19 second-chance points.
In addition to committing just seven turnovers, the Eagles finished with seven blocks and nine steals.
Like the Eagles, Radford was strong on the defensive end, limiting Winthrop to just 37 percent (20-for-54) overall and 3 of 11 from deep.
Winthrop finished the evening 69.2 percent (18-for-26) from the line, while the Highlanders made 14 of their 21 attempts for a 66.7 percent clip.
The two clubs combined to go 5-for-29 from long range.
The Eagles will make their ninth Big South championship appearance in the last 12 years on Saturday at 4 p.m. Winthrop awaits the victor of top-seeded Coastal Carolina and fourth-seeded UNC Asheville.
Radford Head Coach Brad Greenberg
Opening Statement…
“I would like to first thank these two guys (
Amir Johnson and Art Parakhouski) and our seniors. Also, I'd like to congratulate Winthrop. It's the first time this season we've held a team under 40 percent from the floor and 30 percent from behind the 3-point arc and lost. The defensive end of the floor wasn't the problem, it's hard to win a game when you only shoot 25 percent from the floor.”
On the 19-3 run after taking the lead…
“A couple of the shots they made were from guys that aren't necessarily good shooters, you have to give them a lot of credit. They made shots and put us back on our heels.”
On beating a team three times in one season…
“I'd rather go into the third meeting haven beaten them twice.”
Winthrop Head Coach Randy Peele
Regarding Andy Buechert's early offensive play…
“Tonight we told Andy to take the ball right at them. We didn't want him to do a lot of shot fakes and head fakes, but to shoot it on the catch. He played a tremendous game, both offensively and defensively and the job he did on Parakhouski was a big factor in this game.”
On the defensive play of Mantoris Robinson on Trifunovic…
“Mantoris can takes guys out of games defensively. He's the only guy that I've had that guard anybody from the one to the four. He's done that all year for us. He is one of the few guys who can change the outcome of a game with his defense.”
On what he was thinking after Radford claimed the lead…
“We felt we had an advantage in numbers and that we could go to our bench and wear them down. They had four guys who played more than 30 minutes and I believe because of our depth and ability to keep guys fresh that was a factor in us making that run to take back control of the game.”