PRICE 3-POINT BUZZER BEATER PUSHES HIGHLANDERS PAST GARDNER-WEBB, 52-51

BOX SCORE BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - R.J. Price nailed a 30-foot jumper as time expired Saturday to lift Radford to a 52-51 win at Gardner-Webb. The win gives the Highlanders back-to-back wins in the Big South and moves RU to 3-2 in the league.

Price's game-winner came after the Highlanders held the lead for 39 minutes, and it looked as though they were going to let a 22-point first half lead evaporate into a loss. But the sophomore leader of this Radford team had other thoughts.

After Tyler Strange hit two free throws for the Runnin' Bulldogs with 5.1 seconds remaining to give GWU a 51-49 lead, Price dribbled past two defenders and launched a triple from beyond the top of the key that landed in the bottom of the net.

"I am so incredibly proud of this team," RU head coach Mike Jones said. "We faced a lot of adversity in the second half when everything seemed to be going their [GWU] way."

Ironically, Radford played one of the best defensive first halves in its history. The Highlanders held the Bulldogs to nine percent from the field (2-23) and bulit a lead as big as 22 points at 30-8. Gardner-Webb closed the last 5:34 of the half on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 30-15 at the half.

"In all my years of coaching, I have never seen a team held to just two field goals in a half of basketball," Jones said. "And to watch my guys do that tonight was great to see."

Gardner-Webb slowly chipped into the Highlander lead throughout the second half. The Runnin' Bulldogs scored the first six points of the half, yet Radford held them off for the better part of the 20 minutes.

It looked like those efforts were going to come up short, however, when GWU's first three-point basket of the night with 1:26 remaining tied the game at 45. Max Landis followed that trey with another, and GWU led 48-45 with just 27 seconds to play.

Price easily scored a layup with 21 seconds to play to cut the lead to a single point. After the Bulldogs made just one of two free throws, another Price layup tied the game with just over six seconds to play. However, a foul was called on the in-bounds play on Blake Smith, which set up the final scenario, which played out to the Highlanders' favor.

"R.J. knew what he needed to do on that final play to get a decent look," Jones said. "We were going to put the ball in his hands because he had hit the previous shots down the stretch."

Price happily said, "Practice makes perfect" following the game explaining that sometimes in practice his coaches tease he and his teammates about shooting from 25-30 feet on occasion."They think we're goofing off, but it came in handy tonight."

Price, who was coming off a career-high 30 points vs. Longwood last Wednesday, finished with 12 points. Javonte Green had 13 with eight rebounds. Ya Ya Anderson was also in double figures with 10. Brandon Holcomb finished with a career-high 11 rebounds.

The Highlanders are back in action Wednesday, January 23 at division-leading Campbell for a 7:00 p.m. tip.

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