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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Christian Lutete
Radford Athletics Communications
61
Winner High Point HPU 10-10, 4-4
58
Radford RAD 9-11, 4-4
Winner
High Point HPU
10-10, 4-4
61
Final
58
Radford RAD
9-11, 4-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
High Point HPU 27 34 61
Radford RAD 22 36 58

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

RADFORD DROPS 61-58 HOME DECISION TO HIGH POINT



Box Score (PDF)

GAME INFORMATION
  • Score: High Point 61, Radford 58
  • Records: Radford (9-11, 4-4) | High Point (10-10, 4-4)
  • Location: Dedmon Center | Radford, Va.
 
RADFORD, Va. – For the second straight Saturday, the Radford men's basketball team rallied in the second half after a cold-shooting start on its homecourt, but again came up a few points short, falling by a 61-58 score to High Point.
 
Ed Polite, Jr. posted his fourth consecutive double-double in the loss, tallying 10 points and 10 rebounds, while dishing out a career-high five assists, equaling a career-best with six steals, and adding two blocks.
 
Christian Lutete scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the second half to spark the Highlanders off the bench, while Donald Hicks and Darius Bolstad also reached double figures with 10 points.
 
Radford shot just 28 percent (8 of 29) in the first 20 minutes and trailed 27-22 at the break. However, it put together a 9-0 run early in the second half to take the lead. Lutete scored seven of the points on a 3-pointer and two layups, the last putting the Highlanders in front 35-33 with 12:03 left.
 
The teams then exchanged points over next 10 minutes, although High Point held a slight edge on the scoreboard for most of that time. Radford's last advantage came at 46-45 after a jumper by Hicks with 6:13 on the clock. However, Anthony Lindauer answered quickly for the Panthers with a 3-pointer.
 
Miles Bowman Jr. then took over down the stretch for High Point, scoring his team's final 11 points, beginning with a 3-pointer with 4:10 to go that broke 50-50 tie and put the Panthers ahead to stay. He then added six points on two layups and a putback that made it 59-53 with 1:27 left.
 
A 3-pointer by Justin Cousin cut the Highlanders' deficit to three and, after HPU missed a free throw, Bolstad scored off an assist from Christian Bradford to make it 59-58 with 14 seconds remaining. After a Radford foul, High Point missed the front end of another 1-and-1, but Bowman Jr. got the rebound underneath, was fouled and hit two free throws. Cousin then got up a tying 3-point attempt from the top of the key, but it was off the mark.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • For the first time in 12 games and just the fourth time all season, Radford was outrebounded as High Point finished with a commanding 41-30 advantage, including 16-9 on the offensive end. The last team to have the edge over the Highlanders on the glass was North Carolina on Dec. 4.
  • On the other hand, Radford won the turnover battle for just the third time in 20 games, committing a season-low eight while forcing 13 and converting those into 17 points.
  • However, the Highlanders were just 4 of 18 on 3-pointers, its second-lowest number of makes during the campaign. They started off 0 for 10 behind the arc before Cousin hit one with 13 seconds left in the first half.
  • Radford then shot 15 of 26 (58 percent) in the second half, but High Point also improved in the second 20 minutes to 48 percent from 35 percent in the first half.
  • Lutete was 4 of 7 shooting, including 2 of 5 on 3-pointers, to finish one shy of his career high, which came in the win at Winthrop.
  • Hicks made 4 of 6 shots to reach double figures for the seventh time in his freshman season.
  • Bolstad was also 4 for 6 from the field, while adding five rebounds and two blocks.
  • Cousin finished with eight points, ending his streak of double-digit games at four.
  • Bradford dished out a team-high six assists, along with six points.
  • Caleb Tanner missed each of his three shots and was held scoreless for the first time this year.
  • Radford fell to 1-10 when trailing at the half and 9-3 when shooting over 40 percent.
  • The Highlanders are now 1-3 in conference games at home and 3-1 on the road.
  • Bowman totaled 24 points and 11 rebounds to equal Polite, Jr. with his ninth double-double of the season. Fifteen of the points came in the second half and he was 9 of 14 from the field in the game, 2 of 3 on 3's and 4 of 4 on FTs.
  • Andre Fox was the only other Panther in double figures with 11 points.
 
QUOTABLE
  • "There's some games where you look at your coaches and say what was the difference and it may be three or four things. This game it was pretty clear that it was the rebounding. It's going to be really hard to beat teams when you give up that many second-chance opportunities. They came in here and right from the beginning seemed determined to be the tougher team on the glass. They weren't calling out a lot of fouls so it was a matter of being physical and we didn't get it done and they did. Every game is tough, home and away. A lot of teams don't have a homecourt advantage so if you go out there and just play the game, the better team or the team that imposes their will is going to win. We had a great opportunity today to go 5-3 in the league, but we missed that opportunity so we're right back in the pack with everybody else and we've got to dig our way back out again." ~ Radford head coach Mike Jones
 
UP NEXT
  • Radford remains at home to face Campbell Thursday night on ESPNU. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
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