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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
carlik jones
Radford Athletics Communications
62
High Point HPU 3-11 (0-1 BSC)
73
Winner Radford RAD 6-7 (1-0 BSC)
High Point HPU
3-11 (0-1 BSC)
62
Final
73
Radford RAD
6-7 (1-0 BSC)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
High Point HPU 31 31 62
Radford RAD 36 37 73

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

SECOND HALF SURGE GIVES RADFORD 73-62 WIN OVER HIGH POINT

RADFORD, Va. – Led by Carlik Jones, the Radford men's basketball team used a second half surge to defeat High Point, 73-62, on Saturday to open conference play.
 
Jones carried the squad with 26 points, six rebounds and five assists. It was his sixth game with 20-plus points and he also added one steal and one block. He notched a season-high with 10 made free throws, going a perfect 10-for-10.  
 
Radford (6-7, 1-0 Big South) pulled away thanks to an 18-2 run and survived a late rally from High Point (3-11, 0-1 Big South), who ended the game with a 9-5 spurt. All five of Radford's final points came from the charity stripe.
 
Eric Coleman Jr., knocked down a free throw with 10:25 on the clock that gave the Panthers a 51-50 lead. Chyree Walker helped Radford retake the lead with a layup on the next possession. Moments later, Travis Fields, Jr., found Josiah Jeffers open on the right wing and he nailed a 3-ball. One possession later, the starting point guard pulled up from the free throw line and found the bottom of the net. The seven unanswered points from Radford forced the Panthers to call a timeout in a 57-51 hole.
 
Not much changed out of the break as High Point couldn't convert from the field and Radford kept scoring. After all was said and done the Highlanders surged to an 18-2 run and held a 15-point advantage with 3:14 left to play.
 
Jones led the way with nine of his 26 points and Radford shot 7-for-9 from the field, including 2-for-3 from long range. Radford forced High Point into three turnovers and held them to 1-for-7 shooting during the spurt.
 
High Point made things interesting and cut it to nine two times inside a minute and a half, once at the foul line with 1:08 to play and the other via a Jamal Wright 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. However, Jones hit his ninth and 10th free throw with 16 seconds on the clock to put Saturday's game away. The Highlanders went 5-for-6 from the free throw line through the final 1:08.

Radford carried a lead for the opening minutes of first half until High Point's leading scorer, Curtis Holland III, hit a 3-pointer with 14:06 to play in the half. The sophomore gave High Point its first and only lead of the half, 12-11.
 
A minute and a half later Jones gave the Highlanders the lead once more with a put back off his own miss. The lead increased to as many as seven, 32-25, with 3:51 to play in the half, but High Point cut it to one with 1:42 to play as Coleman Jr., converted an and-one.
 
Shortly after High Point cut the deficit to one, the Highlanders ended the half with momentum as Jones and Devine Eke had steal and scores for the final two possessions, that put Radford ahead, 36-31.
 
Both teams threw haymakers at each other in the first 10 minutes of the second half, as there were four ties and nine lead changes. That all changed finally when Walker hit the layup inside 10 minutes that sparked the run.
 
STAT OF THE GAME
Jones' 100 percent from the free throw line happened for the first time since the 2017-18 season when he went 11-for-11 against Charleston Southern on Jan. 27, 2018.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Radford shot 50 percent from the floor in each half and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line in each half. The Highlanders went 19-for-26 from the charity stripe led by Jones' perfect performance. Fields Jr., was one point shy of tying his season-high, but ended with 16 points going 6-for-10 from the floor and 2-for-4 from the 3-point line. Eke was one rebound away from his second double-double of the season but ended with 10 points and nine boards. Each team totaled 33 rebounds and Radford forced 13 turnovers.
 
TWEET OF THE GAME  
QUOTABLE
"It's good to get that first league game under our belt," Mike Jones opened. "We have to understand how intense these games are going to be. There are not going to be any easy wins, especially if we're trying to get where we want to be. Everybody wants the same thing and they're going to be fighting for it. [High Point] is well coached, obviously Tubby Smith is going to be in the Hall of Fame one day, so getting a chance to go up against one of his teams, you know you better be ready. You know he's going to play hard; you know he's going to defend and rebound, and they did that tonight. They made it tougher on us, but I thought our guys really did a good job of finishing the game."
 
UP NEXT
Radford will hit the road to face Gardner-Webb on Wednesday in Boiling Springs, N.C. The rematch of the 2019 Big South Tournament Final is slated for a 7 p.m., tip-off.
 
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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