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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
team
67
Winner Radford RAD 7-7, 2-0
64
Gardner-Webb GWU 5-10, 1-2
Winner
Radford RAD
7-7, 2-0
67
Final
64
Gardner-Webb GWU
5-10, 1-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Radford RAD 27 40 67
Gardner-Webb GWU 33 31 64

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

RADFORD OUTLASTS GARDNER-WEBB FOR TOUGH ROAD WIN

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – It was a tale of two halves on Wednesday night inside Paul Porter Arena as the Radford men's basketball team outlasted Gardner-Webb for a 67-64 victory.
 
Gardner-Webb's Nate Johnson stole the show in the first half with 17 points. His hot shooting carried the Runnin' Bulldogs to a 44.8 field goal percentage, a 43.8 percentage from long range (7-for-16) and a six-point lead at the half. Things turned around really quick as Johnson was held to only 10 second half points and GWU only shot 31.3 percent from the floor.
 
On the other side, the Highlanders improved their shooting from 37.0 percent from the field in the first half to 60.0 percent in the second. The 3-point shooting enhanced the most from a diminutive 25.0 percent in the first half to 44.4 percent in the second, going 4-for-9. All four second half 3-pointers came from different players.
 
Despite the second half turnaround the game came down to the last possession. Travis Fields, Jr., led the Highlanders with 16 points but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left and Radford up three.
 
Following the missed free throw, the Runnin' Bulldogs ran a play for Johnson to take the final shot. He fired a shot from the left corner that hit the side of the rim and was touched by Radford before landing out of bounds as time seemed to expire. After a video review the officials put 0.4 seconds back on the clock, but it wasn't enough time for Jose Perez to get a shot off and the Highlanders came out victorious.
 
Two possessions before that, Radford was ahead by three, 65-62, with 39 seconds to play. Perez tried to tie it up with a 3-pointer from the wing that rimmed out and Kareem Reid corralled the offensive rebound. Reid dished it out to Johnson in the right corner, but he missed and Carlik Jones secured the board. He was fouled but GWU had a foul to give.
 
The ball was inbound to Fields Jr., and he was fouled as well. The senior converted from the foul line making it a two-possession game until Jaheem Cornwall went the distance of the floor and made a layup with 17 seconds. His layup made it a 67-64 contest.
 
Down six points at the half, Radford knew they had to fight in a hostile environment to take back the lead. Gardner-Webb quickly extended their lead from six to eight just two and a half minutes into the second half, but Leroy Butts IV knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner to cut the led to five. Then Cle'von Greene took over and rattled off the next six points. His strong effort gave Radford a one-point lead, 40-39, with 15:23 left. It was Radford's first lead since the 12:14 mark in the first half.
 
A layup by Fields Jr., completed an 11-0 run and Radford led by three with 14:21 remaining. The lead didn't change but Gardner-Webb cut the led to as low as two with 5:17 remaining. Jones' mid-range jumper and Devine Eke's emphatic one-hand slam increased the lead back to six, 65-59, with a little over three minutes remaining.
 
STAT OF THE GAME
This was the Highlanders first win this season when trailing at the half. Prior to Wednesday's contest Radford was 0-5 this season when falling behind at the break.
 
DID YOU KNOW
It was the first win inside Paul Porter Arena since the 2012-13 season. Radford had lost in its previous four trips to Boiling Springs.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Highlanders shot better overall and had fewer turnovers than Gardner-Webb. Radford won the paint points, 34-20, and its bench outscored GWU's 25-10. The Runnin' Bulldogs outrebounded Radford, 37-35, and doubled up the Highlanders in offensive rebounds (14-7). It was a total team effort from Radford as three players scored in double figures. Devin Hutchinson provided a big eight points off the bench with a perfect 3-for-3 night and 2-for-2 from 3-point land. Johnson knocked down eight 3-pointers and led all players with 27 points.
 
TWEET OF THE GAME  
QUOTABLE
"It's a sweet feeling to win on the road against teams that are trying their best to hold court," Mike Jones said. "This is as good of a team as you can have in this league, I don't care what their record is. They're well-coached, they're tough, they have good players and they made it hard for us. Our guys stayed tough and I thought we got even tougher in the second half and we were able to gut out a good win."
 
UP NEXT
The Highlanders return to the Dedmon Center on Saturday and take on Campbell at 2 p.m.
 
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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