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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Justin Cousin
Red Rocket Productions & Photography
82
Winner Radford RAD 7-7, 2-0
80
WINTHROP WINTHROP 9-4, 1-1
Winner
Radford RAD
7-7, 2-0
82
Final
80
WINTHROP WINTHROP
9-4, 1-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Radford RAD 43 39 82
WINTHROP WINTHROP 38 42 80

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

RADFORD HOLDS ON TO KNOCK OFF WINTHROP ON ROAD, 82-80



Box Score (PDF)

GAME INFORMATION
  • Score: Radford 82, Winthrop 80
  • Records: Radford (7-7, 2-0) | Winthrop (9-4, 1-1)
  • Location: Winthrop Coliseum | Rock Hill, S.C.
 
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Radford men's basketball team picked a perfect time to pick up its first road victory of the season, hitting 16 3-pointers and holding off a late Winthrop rally to knock off the preseason favorite Eagles 82-80 Saturday afternoon.
 
Justin Cousin hit 6 of the 3-pointers, including a critical one with 1:20 left to make it 80-75 as Winthrop was mounting a late comeback bid from a double-digit deficit. He finished the victory with 19 points.
 
Trailing 80-77, the Eagles had a pair of looks to tie the game but Keon Johnson missed one 3-pointer and had a second attempt blocked by Sterling Christy. Christian Bradford fed the ball ahead to Christy for the runout dunk to make it a five-point lead with 16 seconds left. Johnson got a desperation 3-pointer to go with 7.5 on the clock, but after a timeout, the Eagles – who had two fouls to give – were unable to get a whistle and the Highlanders were able to run out the clock for the huge early season conference road victory.
 
Caleb Tanner posted his second straight 20-plus point game, adding five 3-pointers for a team-high 20 points, while Ed Polite, Jr. and Christian Lutete each tallied 13 points, with the latter posting a career-high and hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers.
 
Thanks its hot shooting from behind the arc, Radford led for the last 30 minutes of the game after building a brief double-digit advantage in the latter stages of the first half. The Highlanders maintained a 43-38 halftime edge and stayed in front through a seesaw start to the second half. They then used another strong stretch to push the lead back up into double figures, outscoring Winthrop 13-2 to make it a 72-59 margin with 9:15 to play. Each of the four field goals in the run were from long range, with Tanner hitting the middle two, including one for four-point play. Lutete started it off with one and Cousin finished it with another.
 
Tanner's final 3-pointer of the game made it 77-66 with 5:41 on the clock, but Winthrop then scored the next nine points over a four-minute span to get within two. Johnson's 3-pointer started it off and his two free throws made it 77-75 with 1:27 to go. That's when Cousin stopped the bleeding as the Highlanders broke the full-court pressure and found Cousin on the right wing and he drained the 16th and decisive shot from long range.
 
Cousin got the onslaught from behind the arc going in the game, hitting his first 3 attempts in the opening four minutes. He went on to tally four of the team's seven in the first half. Lutete added two and Tanner one as Radford hit 7 of its first 12 as a team to build a 35-24 lead. Johnson led the Eagles back by the end of the half, scoring 15 points en route to a game-high 37 – one shy of his career-high.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Radford has now knocked both of last year's Big South Tournament finalists in its first two conference games of this season.
  • As a team, the 16 3-pointers were the most for the Highlanders under head coach Mike Jones, the most in program history against Winthrop and tied for the most the Eagles have ever allowed.
  • Cousin was 6 for 10 from the field overall and 6 for 9 from long range. It was the fifth time in seven games that he made at least three 3-pointers. The six treys were a season-best and one shy of his career high.
  • Tanner was 7 of 16 shooting, including 5 of 12 3's, giving him 11 in the two past two games.
  • Radford was 9 of 19 overall from behind the arc in the second half - with Tanner going 4 for 9 – but 14 of 37 overall shooting in the last 20 minutes.
  • Lutete shot 4 of 7 from the field, including the three 3's, for his career-best scoring game, surpassing the 12 he tallied against Stetson.
  • The Highlanders outrebounded Winthrop 40-36, winning the battle for the 10th time in 11 games. Polite, Jr., Cousin and Lutete each led the way with six, while Darius Bolstad had 5.
  • Bradford chipped in seven points, while adding seven assists, giving him 20 in the last three contests. The Highlanders also recorded 20 as a team (on 28 field-goals) for the third straight outing.
  • Johnson was 12 of 26 shooting and 10 of 11 on free throws, but just 3 of 10 on 3-pointers for his 37 points.
  • Xavier Cooks was the only other Eagle in double figures with 17.
  • Winthrop lost despite shooting 47 percent in the game, compared to just 43 percent for the Highlanders.
 
QUOTABLE
  • "Coming down the stretch, we broke a little bit, but we didn't break, kind of like against Asheville, and anytime you can do that, the team grows up. Playing that tough schedule I think prepared these guys for this and I was just proud of the way they handled the adversity and kept battling and everybody contributed. You don't get 16 3's without sharing the ball and they stuck with the gameplan. They got in the lane, help came and they didn't hesitate to kick it out and we got some great looks. It's a journey and it's going to take a while before we get to where we want to be, but we've just got to keep building they way we've been building." ~ Radford head coach Mike Jones
 
UP NEXT
  • Radford returns home for a matchup against Gardner-Webb Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside the Dedmon Center.
 
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