RICHMOND, Va. – A scoring drought that lasted more than eight minutes in the second half doomed the Radford men's basketball team in a 73-50 defeat to VCU inside the Siegel Center on Wednesday night.
The loss drops the Highlanders to 2-2 on the season while the Rams improve to 2-1 overall.
Radford threw the first punch in a heavyweight fight, flying out to a 10-2 lead before VCU was forced to call a timeout. The Rams countered quickly, however, going on a 10-4 run of their own to pull within one possession.
The see-saw action brought the score to 22-all, but then the Highlanders pieced together a 9-0 run between 4:57 and 3:13 on the clock to rebuild a lead. Of course, that lead didn't last long once again as VCU's 8-0 run got them right back in it.
Each team traded one big shot for another and a late VCU three-pointer knotted the game at 33-33 heading into halftime.
After dropping 16 points in the first half alone,
Kenyon Giles picked up where he left off, drilling a three just over a minute into the second half. Little did we know, that would be the Highlanders' only points for quite some time.
Defense that stretched the length of the court, too many turnovers, and an icy-cold shooting streak put Radford into a scoring drought that would last more than 8-and-a-half minutes of in-game time.
VCU's offense in that period wasn't explosive by any means, but it did just enough to contribute to a 16-0 run that gave the hosts at 51-36 lead with 10:42 left in regulation. A
Bryan Antoine three-pointer finally ended the drought, but the game proved to be too far out of hand by then.
By the time it was all said and done, the Rams out-scored the Highlanders by a score of 40-17 over the final 20 minutes of action.
Giles led the Highlanders with 19 points on 8-of-20 shooting while
Justin Archer pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. VCU got 19 points from Jason Nelson and 17 points from Zeb Jackson in its winning effort.
NOTES & STATS
- Radford is now 0-8 all-time at VCU
- Giles has scored in double-figures in all four games to begin the year
- This was just the third game under Darris Nichols that the score has been tied at the half
- D'Auntray Pierce has been the first player to come into the game off the bench in all four games this season
- VCU's bench out-scored Radford's, 36-to-4
UP NEXT
No rest for the weary as the Highlanders head to No. 24 James Madison for a 7 p.m. tip inside the Atlantic Union Bank Center on Friday, Nov. 17. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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To follow the Radford men's basketball team throughout the season, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordHoops on Twitter, 'radfordhoops' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.
