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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
team
64
UNC Asheville AVL 12-14 (6-9)
79
Winner Radford RAD 18-9 (13-2)
UNC Asheville AVL
12-14 (6-9)
64
Final
79
Radford RAD
18-9 (13-2)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNC Asheville AVL 31 33 64
Radford RAD 31 48 79

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

HIGHLANDERS KNOCK OFF UNC ASHEVILLE IN LATE NIGHT SHOWDOWN

RADFORD, Va. – It was a late night showing for the Radford men's basketball team but a strong second half performance helped guide them to a 79-64 victory over UNC Asheville on Thursday inside the Dedmon Center.
 
The Highlanders (18-9, 13-2 Big South) seemed to get stronger as the game went on despite the late tip time. Radford went on an 18-2 run that began with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Carlik Jones to end the first half. His shot tied the game at 31.
 
Then Radford scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a double-digit advantage with 16:51 left in the second half. After an LJ Thorpe layup, Travis Fields, Jr., and Lewis Djonkam gave the Highlanders their biggest lead at the time – 13 points.
 
Fields Jr., tallied a season-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and connected from long range five times, just one shy of tying a career-high. Two of them came late in the second half and helped increase a six-point lead to 13 supported by a 9-2 run. The spurt gave Radford a 70-57 lead with 3:31 remaining.
 
The Highlanders hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 2:16 and Devonnte Holland scored on the last possession to give Radford its largest lead of the game at 15 points. That put him one point shy of a double-double as the senior ended with nine points and nine boards.
 
Radford shot an electric 58.6 percent in the second half with a 55.6 3-point percentage. Overall the Highlanders shot 54.9 percent from the floor for the game and 52.9 percent from long range. It's the sixth time during the eight game win streak that Radford has amassed over 50 percent shooting.
 
UNC Asheville (12-14, 6-9 Big South) had a lead the majority of the first half and led by as many as 10 with 11:53 to play. Radford kept chipping away and eventually took its first lead of the game with 5:01 in the half. Fields Jr., made his second 3-pointer of the night and gave Radford a 20-19 edge. The lead changed three different times until Jones' buzzer-beater to end the first half.
 
It was the second straight game Radford overcame a double-digit deficit and the third time this year.
 
STAT OF THE GAME
Fields Jr., tallied his third 20-point game this season and led Radford in scoring for the fourth time all year. He chipped in two rebounds, three assists and one steal.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Jones was the only other double-digit scorer for Radford. He chipped in 18 points and eight assists along with a 6-for-6 performance at the charity stripe. Radford outrebounded the Bulldogs 31-26. Donald Hicks scored eight points and is nine shy of 1,000 career points. Lavar Batts led UNC Asheville with 15 points and the Bulldogs had four other players in double-figure scoring.
 
TWEET OF THE GAME  
QUOTABLE
"What a tremendous second half, but I thought the first half, when we fought back from down 10 and went into the locker room tied was big," Mike Jones said. "Carlik made a big three to tie it, but even to get back to one possession or even in the first half was big. I thought our defense stepped up in the latter part of that first half in order to get us back in the game."
 
UP NEXT
Radford will prepare for USC Upstate, who makes a trip to the Dedmon Center on Saturday at 4:30 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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