Radford Shows Strong Second Half, Ultimately Falls to Norfolk State

Saturday, November 28

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

Radford University

0-2,0-0Big South

Norfolk State

2-0,0-0MEAC

Team	1	2	F
Radford	20	34	54
Norfolk St.	34	23	57

Photo by: Dan Garcia

Radford Shows Strong Second Half, Ultimately Falls to Norfolk State

11/28/2020 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Radford men's basketball team erased a 14-point halftime deficit, but ultimately fell to Norfolk State, 57-54, on Saturday night inside the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg.

The Highlanders (0-2) outscored the Spartans (2-0) in the second half, 34-23 and had a chance to tie the game but missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation. Dravon Mangum, who took the final shot of the game, had 11 points and six rebounds.

Radford took its first lead of the game when Dante Moses scored his first points as a Highlander. His layup came with 1:55 to play and gave Radford a 54-53 lead. However, Norfolk State scored the final four points of the game to clinch a 57-54 victory.

Mustafa Lawrence hit a pair of free throws with 1:20 to play and Efstratios Kalogerias made a layup with 25 seconds for the game's final made basket.

It was a slow first half for the Highlanders as the team started 0-for-12 from the floor. The first field goal came at the 7:03 mark in the first half when Mangum made a layup. Two minutes later Xavier Lipscomb made a layup that sparked a 7-0 run and cut the lead to eight, 24-16.

Norfolk State's Daryl Anderson put the Spartan lead back to double-digits with a 3-pointer and Quinton Morton-Robertson answered back with one of his own. He led the way with nine first half points for the Highlanders in his 2020-21 debut and finished the game with 12 points and four assists.

The Spartans scored seven of the final 11 points of the half and took a 34-20 lead into the locker room. Radford shot 22.7 percent from the floor in the first frame and 18.2 percent from beyond the arc.

The Highlanders came out hot in the opening minutes of the second half and scampered to a 10-2 run over the first four minutes and cut the deficit to 36-30 with 16 minutes to play. Mangum had six of his 11 total points during the early second half run. Eventually the Spartans would push the lead back to double-digits.

NSU was clinging to a 43-31 lead with 12:33 to play, until Mangum hit a free thrown and Fah'Mir Ali hit his first 3-pointer of the game to spark a13-3 run over the next 4:16 minutes. During the run, Radford had a 9-0 spurt that cut it to a two-point game, 46-44.

Ali's second 3-pointer of the game came with just under five minutes to play, making it a 48-47 game. The big-time 3-point basket put Radford as close as it was when the game was tied at three in the early minutes of the first half. However, NSU's Anderson put the Spartans ahead by four points, 51-47 with just under four minutes remaining.

Lipscomb scored Radford's next five points, until Moses gave them the lead with less than two minutes to play.

Stat of the Game
Radford turned its field goal percentage around from the first half to the second half as the Highlanders shot 40 percent from the floor in the second half after shooting just 22.7 in the first. Radford also nearly doubled its 3-point percentage from the first to the second half shooting 35.7 percent from beyond the arc in the second half.

Inside the Box Score
Chyree Walker led all players with a career-high 10 rebounds, while also chipping in six points. The Highlanders had three players in double-figures, led by Quinton Morton-Robertson's 12 (also a career-high) in his season debut. He went 3-for-5 from long range. Mangum had 11 points, while true freshman Lipscomb had a season-high 10 points.

Tweet of the Game

2H | 1:55 • Radford 54, NSU 53

Dante Moses gives Radford its first lead of the game with his first bucket as a Highlander! #RiseAndDefend x #HUNT pic.twitter.com/X3H2LgUp2G
— Radford Men's Basketball (@RadfordMBB) November 29, 2020

Quotable
"I'm really pleased with the way we competed in the second half," Mike Jones said. "We are a young inexperienced team and we weren't making shots, so that kind of bothered us early in the game. But we fought hard in the second half and had a couple late chances to win the game. We had a lot of great looks, but couldn't really get the shots to fall."

Up Next
Radford will close out the opening week of play against host James Madison on Sunday at 7 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.