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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Fields and Coach Jones
62
Radford RAD 3-3
74
Winner Vanderbilt VU 3-4
Radford RAD
3-3
62
Final
74
Vanderbilt VU
3-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Radford RAD 33 29 62
Vanderbilt VU 36 38 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

RADFORD FALLS IN TOUGH BATTLE AT VANDERBILT



GAME INFORMATION
  • Score: Vanderbilt 74, Radford 62
  • Records: Radford (3-3), Vanderbilt (3-4)
  • Location: Historic Memorial Gymnasium | Nashville, Tenn.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Radford men's basketball team gave Vanderbilt everything it could handle in a fourth straight game that went down to the wire, but the Highlanders ultimately fell, 74-62, on the road Tuesday night.
 
Junior forward Ed Polite, Jr. recorded his second double-double of the season and 22nd of his career with 16 points and 12 rebounds while adding two assists and a block.
 
He led a Radford team that shot a tough 39.3-percent from the field and 36.8-percent from three-point range, but only turned the ball over nine times and kept the rebounding battle close at 37-34.
 
With the loss, the Highlanders drop to 3-3 on the season while the Commodores move closer to .500 basketball with a 3-4 mark.
 
The bright lights of Memorial Gymnasium didn't faze the Highlanders, who came out of the gate ready to go. Tough defense held Vanderbilt without its first field goal until the 15:06 mark and Radford's lead quickly grew to 7-2.
 
Consistently going to the post, Radford's big men kept pouring it in. In fact, 20 of the team's 33 first-half points were scored in the paint. Polite, Jr. tallied nine points and five rebounds while Bolstad provided five points thanks to two trips to the free throw line. It was Holland who had the best half of the bench, scoring a season-high eight points on 4-of-7 shooting in just seven minutes.
 
Vanderbilt went cold and failed to score a basket from 11:20 to 7:44 and with 5:04 to go until the break, Radford led by a game-high 10 points. It was then that the Commodores came alive and went on a tear in which they made seven straight shots to bring the score from 29-19 to 36-33 where the first stanza came to a close.
 
The Highlanders hung tough with Vanderbilt in the second half, but the Commodores would go on to protect that lead for the remainder of the game.
 
With less than five minutes to play, sophomore guard Travis Fields, Jr. found Bolstad under the basket for an easy lay-in as the shot clock expired to bring the score within two at 58-56. Fields finished the game with a season-high six assists – the most of any Highlander in a single game this season.
 
Despite their best efforts, the Highlanders couldn't quite keep up with Vandy who ended the game on a 16-6 run.
 
Fouls were an issue for Radford all game. The team was called for 25 fouls compared to 16 for Vanderbilt, but the biggest differential came in the free throw department where Vanderbilt made 23-of-31. In comparison, the Highlanders only went 7-for-11 from the charity stripe.
 
Senior guard Riley LeChance had the game of his life, scoring a career-high 27 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor and a perfect 10-for-10 clip from the free throw line. Senior forward Jeff Roberson came close to recording a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds, but he would eventually foul out.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Head Coach Mike Jones elected to stay with his tried-and-true starting lineup of Bradford, Hicks, Cousin, Polite, Jr. and Phillips for the third straight game and fourth time in six this season
  • Polite, Jr. pushes his streak of consecutive games with at least one block to six
  • Holland recorded season highs in points (11), made field goals (5) and field goal attempts (11)
  • Bolstad recorded season highs in minutes played (11), points (9), made field goals (3), field goal attempts (6), free throws made (3), free throw attempts (4) and rebounds (4)
  • 11 of 12 Highlanders that saw game action were whistled for at least one foul
  • Sophomore Donald Hicks grabbed the only Radford steal of the game
  • Both teams had 10 assists and 10 offensive rebounds
 
QUOTABLE
"It's just a disappointing result. With the exception of a few stretches and that final few minutes, I thought we were the better team out there. When you play a good team like this and you don't play well for a period of time, they're going to take advantage. We made a lot of mistakes and they cashed in." - Head Coach Mike Jones
 
UP NEXT
  • The Highlanders now return to Virginia, but not the Dedmon Center, as they travel a little farther up I-81 to VMI
  • The game against the Keydets is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 2nd at 1 p.m.
 
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