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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Donald Hicks
74
Radford RAD 2-2
77
Winner Elon ELON 4-3
Radford RAD
2-2
74
Final
77
Elon ELON
4-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Radford RAD 33 41 74
Elon ELON 40 37 77

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

RADFORD DROPS A NAILBITER, 77-74, IN ELON



GAME INFORMATION
  • Score: Elon 77, Radford 74
  • Records: Radford 2-2, Elon 4-3
  • Location: Alumni Gym | Elon, N.C.
 
ELON, N.C. – A potential game-tying shot at the buzzer fell short as the Radford men's basketball team dropped a fast-paced, hard-fought contest against Elon, 77-74, in Alumni Gym Wednesday night.
 
Three-point shooting was the name of the game as both teams combined for 67 attempts from beyond the arc. Radford drained 14 of their 34 attempts (41.2-percent) while Elon hit 15 of their 33 (45.5-percent).
 
The Highlanders hung around the hot-shooting Phoenix all night and had a chance to force overtime in the waning moments of the game, but senior guard Christian Bradford's final three-point attempt missed its mark.
 
With the loss, Radford moves to 2-2 on the season while Elon improves to 4-3.
 
The Phoenix came out firing, jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead before redshirt senior guard Justin Cousin knocked down a three to halt the run. Elon hit right back, however, and built that lead to as many as 14.
 
Through the first 11:36 of the ball game, Elon shot a scorching 11-for-17 from the floor including a 7-for-8 clip from three-point range. Junior guard Dainan Swoope scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first 20 minutes of action to pace the hosts.
 
After a slow start, the Highlanders found their rhythm late in the half and exploded on a 14-2 across five minutes of play to cut the lead down to one and force an Elon timeout. The streak was capped by a monster rebound and put-back layup from freshman Leroy Butts IV who is starting to find his footing against collegiate competition.
 
Back-to-back threes from Elon's Steven Santa Ana and Swoope pumped the deficit back up to 40-33 as the game entered halftime.
 
The Highlanders showed a lot of heart and determination in the second stanza where they outscored the Phoenix by four. A large Elon lead became a back-and-forth affair thanks to timely buckets and press defense from Radford.
 
With 7:45 remaining in regulation, Butts found the bottom of the net on a straightaway three to give Radford a 64-63 lead, its first of the night.
 
Every time it looked like Radford might pull ahead and stay ahead, the Phoenix would hit a shot to keep their advantage. Then, with 1:44 to go, redshirt senior Justin Cousin hit a huge three to tie the game at 74 and swing the momentum back to the visitor's bench.
 
Elon's Brian Dawkins shot 9-for-16 for 21 points, but it was his final basket that sealed the victory for the Phoenix as he pulled down an offensive rebound and went back up for a put-back layup that made it 76-74 with 32 seconds left.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Cousin scored a team and season-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, all of which were threes, in front of a large group of family and friends. He's a native of nearby Burlington, N.C.
  • Sophomore guard Donald Hicks joined Cousin with 15 points on a career-high 14 shot attempts. He added five rebounds and two assists across a team-high 29 minutes
  • Junior guard Caleb Tanner was the third Highlander on the night to reach double-digit scoring, dropping 10 points which all came in the first half
  • 12 different Highlanders saw game action and all 12 scored at least two points
  • Freshman guard Carlik Jones flirted with a double-double for the first time in his career, providing eight points and a career-high eight rebounds
  • 10 of Elon's 15 made baskets in the first half were of the three-point variety
  • Junior guard Dainan Swoope led all scorers with 24 points. It marks the fourth straight game he has scored 20 or more points
  • Radford struggled at times from the free throw line in their victory over East Carolina, but they went a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in Elon
  • The Radford bench outscored the Phoenix bench, 35-12, to bring their season advantage over opponents to 158-63
 
QUOTABLE
"Elon grabbed the momentum to start the game, but I'm definitely proud of the way our guys fought back. Elon is a really good team and even if you do the right thing on defense nine out of 10 times, they're going to hurt you that 10th time. A couple of points here or there make a big difference when it's a one possession game and unfortunately it didn't go our way. It was a heck of a college basketball game from start to finish." – Head Coach Mike Jones
 
UP NEXT
  • The men of Radford basketball will enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday before getting back to work in preparation of Saturday's home contest
  • James Madison (1-4) will make its way down to the Dedmon Center for a 4 p.m. tip
  • Tickets for the JMU game will be 50% off for residents of Radford city when they bring the flier available on the Radford men's basketball Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
 
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