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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Caleb Tanner
Tim Cowie - Tim Cowie Photograph
57
DE DE 0-0, 0-0 G-MAC
91
Winner Radford RAD 1-0, 0-0 BSC
DE DE
0-0, 0-0 G-MAC
57
Final
91
Radford RAD
1-0, 0-0 BSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
DE DE 29 28 57
Radford RAD 51 40 91

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

HIGHLANDERS CATCH FIRE FROM BEYOND THE ARC IN 91-57 WIN OVER DAVIS & ELKINS


 
RADFORD, Va. – The Radford men's basketball team knocked down 18 3-pointers en route to a dominating 91-57 victory over Davis & Elkins in the 2018-19 season opener at the Dedmon Center on Tuesday night.
 
The Highlanders (1-0, 0-0 Big South) shot a blazing 52.5-percent from the field and 54.5-percent from 3-point range. Ball movement on the perimeter was key as they tallied 24 assists on 31 made shots.
 
Senior guard Caleb Tanner and junior guard Donald Hicks led the way, each going 6-for-9 from deep. Tanner finished with a team-high 19 points and a career-high three steals while Hicks posted 18 points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
Senior forward Ed Polite, Jr. recorded his 27th career double-double with an 18-point, 12-rebound effort on 7-for-9 shooting. The Lanham, Md. native added three assists for good measure.
 
The Highlanders got off to a fast start, opening the game with a 10-0 run over three minutes that included back-to-back 3-pointers from Tanner and a Sallah-Hutchinson connection in the paint.
 
Radford stayed in front, but the Senators fought their way back into the game with an 11-4 run midway through the first half, bringing the score to 23-20. Seeing D&E hanging tough served as an early wake-up call for the Highlanders, who completely took over the game from there.
 
Over the next seven minutes and 31 seconds, Radford knocked down 8-of-9 shots to put together an impressive 23-0 run. Davis & Elkins went 0-for-8 in the stretch and was forced into six turnovers before finally finding the bottom of the net again.
 
Radford coasted into halftime with a 51-29 lead and the second half was much of the same. From 7:02 to 2:04 left on the clock, the Highlanders went on a 15-4 run that pushed their lead to a game-high 37 points and a last-second three by the Senators brought the score to its final tally of 91-57.

The 34-point victory is Radford's largest win since topping Johnson & Wales, 92-54, on Dec. 16, 2014.
 
PLAY OF THE GAME  
NEW FACES
Coach Jones and his staff emptied the bench against Davis & Elkins, playing a total of 11 Highlanders in the game. Several of those players were making their debut in a Radford uniform and giving fans their first glimpse of what's to come.

Graduate center Mawdo Sallah made his presence felt in the post with nine points, five rebounds and four blocks. Junior guard Devin Hutchinson pulled down four rebounds and led all players with seven assists. Freshman guard Josiah Jeffers (6p, 4a), freshman guard Cle'von Greene (9p, 4-5 FG) and junior guard John Caldwell all made their Radford debuts as well.
 
RECORD WATCH
Polite Jr. passed Correy Watkins (1998-02) in two categories on Tuesday night. First, he moved into fourth all-time in Radford history for career rebounds with 817 and then he moved into 23rd all-time for career points scored with 1,134.
 
Tanner is now 10th in program history for career made 3-point field goals with 156. He passed Amir Johnson (2006-10).
 
QUOTABLE
"We've got some more shooters on this year's team and we've spent a lot of time on sharing the ball and making the extra pass. Instead of getting a good shot we want to move the ball and get great shots which I think we were able to do a few times tonight. One thing our veterans understand is that we're not going to shoot the ball like this every night so we need to rely on being solid defensively, rebounding the ball well and taking second-chance points away." – Head Coach Mike Jones
 
NEXT HOME GAME
Radford begins play in the Gotham Classic tournament when it hosts UIC on Friday, Nov. 9 at 9 p.m. in the Dedmon Center. Tickets can be purchased on RadfordTickets.com or by calling the Radford Ticket Office at (540) 831-7889 during business hours.
 
FOLLOW RADFORD MEN'S BASKETBALL
To follow the Radford men's basketball team, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordMBB on Twitter, 'radfordmbb' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.
 
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