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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
R.J. Price
Radford Athletics Communications
65
Winner Coastal Carolina COASTAL 19-8, 10-5 BSC
59
Radford RAD 19-9, 10-5 BSC
Winner
Coastal Carolina COASTAL
19-8, 10-5 BSC
65
Final
59
Radford RAD
19-9, 10-5 BSC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Coastal Carolina COASTAL 25 40 65
Radford RAD 30 29 59

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

COASTAL SLIPS BY RADFORD AT DEDMON

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RADFORD, Va. - Coastal Carolina's Warren Gillis scored the final eight points of the game and led the Chanticleers (19-8, 10-5) to a 65-59 victory over Radford (19-9, 10-5) on Monday night at the Dedmon Center. The game was closed to the general public because of snowy conditions in the New River Valley prior to and during the contest. Even still, nearly 1,000 students trekked across campus to the arena only to see the Highlanders fall for the second straight time at home.

Gillis finished with 12 points on the night, but his back-to-back jumpers tied the game at 59 with 1:31 to play and gave CCU the lead for good with :51 remaining. After an R.J. Price turnover forcing the Highlanders to foul, Gillis made four straight free throws to seal the game.

Radford led 59-57 with just under two minutes to play after Javonte Green hit two free throws. The RU defense forced a miss from the field by Josh Cameron, but the 20th offensive rebound of the night for CCU proved the costliest for Radford. Michel Enanga snared the Cameron miss and found Gillis in the late for the tying basket. Marcus Freeman then blocked Green's attempt to tie setting up the Gillis go-ahead bucket.

Freeman and fellow big man Badou Diagne proved the difference in the game, each recording a double-double. To go along with five blocks, Freeman finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds, while Diagne scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Cameron finished with 16 as the fourth Chant in double figures.

"Coastal is a team that has championship character, and it showed tonight. They made plays," Radford head coach Mike Jones said. "We didn't score at an efficient rate, but it was a good battle between two good teams. In the end, we let them hang around, and they made us pay. We weren't quite tough enough tonight to finish plays when we needed to."

Radford led by as many as eight points in the first half and carried a 30-25 lead into the intermission after holding Coastal to 32.4 percent shooting in the first half. RU, however, shot that same percentage in the second half and did not score a field goal in the game's final 4:42. Still, the Highlanders led 52-45 with 8:16 to play before Gillis and Cameron staged an 8-0 run to take the lead and set up the back-and-forth battle down the stretch.

Green finished the night with 18 points, eight rebounds, and became the third Highlander to reach 1,800 career points. R.J. Price added 14, but only three in the second half. Brandon Holcomb blocked a career high five shots and finished with six points and six rebounds.

Coastal's bench, led by Cameron and Freeman, outscored RU's, 30-16, and despite Radford turning it over just eight times, the Chanticleers converted those miscues into a 12-5 scoring advantage. The offensive rebound total turned into a 10-6 edge for CCU.

Radford will look to rebound from the loss Saturday with a road trip to UNC Asheville in what shapes up to be a pivotal game in the Big South race. Tip in Asheville is set for 4:30 p.m.
 
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