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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Caleb Tanner
Red Rocket Productions & Photography
47
Radford RAD 1-3
58
Winner Mercer MER 3-1
Radford RAD
1-3
47
Final
58
Mercer MER
3-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Radford RAD 14 33 47
Mercer MER 27 31 58

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

RADFORD FALLS AT MERCER DESPITE SECOND-HALF PUSH



Box Score (PDF)

GAME INFORMATION
  • Score: Mercer 58, Radford 47
  • Records: Radford (1-3) | Mercer (3-1)
  • Location: Hawkins Arena | Macon, Ga.
 
MACON, Ga. – For the second straight game, the Radford men's basketball team got off to a poor offensive start, and despite a better second half and a late rally attempt, could not overcome the deficit in a 58-47 road loss at Mercer Tuesday night.
 
Unfortunately for the Highlanders, the first half was a repeat of the opening 20 minutes in Sunday night's loss to Akron. While the defense was solid, limiting Mercer to 30 percent shooting, even colder shooting and turnovers plagued the offense, allowing the Bears to steadily open up a 27-14 lead at the break.
 
The one difference for Radford was the play of Darius Bolstad, who made his presence felt immediately in his season debut after entering just over four minutes in. He grabbed a defensive rebound, hit a foul-line jumper and recorded a block in a span of 1:28. Bolstad went on to score 10 points on 4 of 5 from the field while grabbing eight rebounds by halftime, keeping the Highlanders in the game.
 
Also unlike in the Akron contest, Radford did not let the game get away in the second half, even after falling behind by 18 at 45-27 with 9:02 to play. Instead, the Highlanders went on 11-0 run starting with a layup by Randy Phillips. Christian Lutete and Caleb Tanner then hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Lutete converted a three-point play off a drive into the lane to make it 45-38 with 4:45 to play.
 
Mercer, though, got five big points from reserve Ryan Johnson on a 3-pointer and a layup to slow the Highlanders' momentum and push the edge back to double digits at 50-39. Tanner added another trey, but the Bears answered with one by Demetre Rivers and a three-point play by Jordan Strawberry to put it out of reach.
 
Radford will now head to Savannah, Ga. for a pair of games in the Savannah Invitational on Friday and Saturday, against Stetson and Georgia Southern, respectively.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Tanner scored all of his team-high 12 points in the second half on four 3-pointers, his second game this season with four treys on the season and the fifth of his career. He was 4 of 6 from the field in the second 20 minutes after an 0 for 4 first half.
  • Bolstad, who had sat out the first three games due to "conduct detrimental to the team" missed his only two shots in the second half and finished with the 10 points, one shy of his career high. He also posted team-highs of nine rebounds and two blocks.
  • Lutete and Ed Polite, Jr. added six points each, all coming in the second half.
  • Polite, Jr. grabbed eight rebounds for the third time in as many games played this season. He also had four assists, leading the team for the second straight contest.
  • After making just 6 of 25 shots in the first half, the Highlanders made 12 of 27 (44 percent) in the second stanza, finishing at 35 percent for the game.
  • Radford also had just five turnovers in the second half after committing 11 by halftime.
  • Point guard Devin Cooper played just six minutes after sustaining an injury when he landed awkwardly on a drive to the basket. 
  • Mercer took advantage of the 16 Radford turnovers for 19 points and had 17 assists on their 20 made field goals.
  • Rivers scored a game-high 16 points on 7 of 7 shooting for the Bears while leading scorer Ria'n Holland added 15 and Strawberry 10. Johnson, who came in averaging 4.0 ppg, doubled that with eight.
  • Mercer made 12 of 19 shots in the second half and finished at 44 percent from the field in the game.
 
QUOTABLE
  • "Tonight's game reminded me of my press conference when I got the job here six years ago. I said then that I want to be the kind of team that nobody wants to play and will talk about how hard we defend for 40 minutes, and I thought that we did that tonight. We overcame a lot tonight and we got our offense going in the second half, but it wasn't consistent enough." ~ Radford head coach Mike Jones
 
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