BOX SCORE

CHARLESTON, S.C. – A career-high 21 points from sophomore Gorkem Sonmez (Istanbul, Turkey) wasn't enough as Radford fell on the road to Charleston Southern, 73-58, in Big South men's basketball action Sunday afternoon at CSU Fieldhouse.

Sonmez, the first Highlander to hit the 20-point plateau this season, finished the contest with three 3-pointers and went 10-of-14 from the line. Tolga Cerrah (Ankara, Turkey) also added double digits for Radford with 13 points.

“I'm proud of the effort that Gorkem, Tolga, Lukas [Winegarner], Jeremy [Robinson], Evan [Faulkner] and Jareal [Smith] gave us tonight,” said Highlander head coach Brad Greenberg.

The Buccaneers drilled 10 three-pointers, including six from Jamarco Warren, who led all players with 24 points. Backcourt mates Sheldon Strickland and Jeremy Sexton also scored in double figures for CSU with 14 and 11, respectively.

“Charleston Southern is a good team. We got their inside players in foul trouble, but weren't able to contain their 3-point shooting.”

Despite Sonmez' 17 first-half points, including a 9-for-12 showing at the line, Radford (3-11, 0-4 Big South) trailed at intermission, 36-27. As a team, the Highlanders went just 11-of-21 at the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes.

Charleston Southern (8-7, 2-1) used a pair of lengthy unanswered spurts in the opening period, including a 9-0 run to grab the lead for good.

After Sonmez knocked down his third trey of the contest to get Radford within five, 41-36, the Buccaneers responded with an 11-2 run to push its lead back to double figures with 14:43 left.

Charleston Southern shot just under 47 percent, while holding Radford to 40 percent. The Highlanders got to the line 35 times, but only managed to hit 22 of their tries for a .629 clip.

Radford will enjoy a six-day break before beginning a three-game homestand Saturday afternoon against High Point at the Dedmon Center.