DAYTONA BEACH - The Radford men's basketball program is bringing some hardware back from Daytona Beach as the Highlanders knocked off Purdue Fort Wayne by a 69-56 margin in the championship game of the ocean bracket at the 2024 Sunshine Slam.
With the victory, Radford improved to 6-2 on the young season, which has now officially matched the 2018-19 squad for the best start to a campaign in seven years. It is the second straight win for the Highlanders and improved the team to 6-1 over their last seven contests.
The win was another impressive notch for Radford as Purdue Fort Wayne is coming off a 22-13 campaign last season and was picked in the top spot of the Horizon League Preseason Poll. The Highlanders never gave up the lead in the impressive wire-to-wire victory.
Radford opened the contest on a 9-0 run and didn't allow a Mastodon field goal until the 12:33 mark of the opening half (where they led, 16-4). The Highlander lead ballooned to as much as 23 at 32-9 (3:28 left) and Radford took a 36-18 advantage into the half.
Purdue Fort Wayne would get the contest as close as seven at 48-41 with 10:45 remaining, but as has been the theme early this year, the Highlanders would not let them get any closer as the squad closed out the 69-56 win.
With their strong efforts, Jarvis Moss was named the Sunshine Slam Ocean Bracket Tournament Most Valuable Player and Truth Harris joined him as an All-Tournament Team selection.
THE FACTS
FINAL SCORE: Radford - 69, Purdue Fort Wayne - 56
EVENT: 2024 Sunshine Slam Championship (Daytona Beach, Florida)
RECORDS: RU: 6-2 (0-0 Big South), PFW: 4-3 (0-0 HL)
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Moss dropped his fourth 20-plus point game of the season with a 23-point outing. He also added three rebounds and tied for the game-high with three steals.
- Harris was nearly perfect in his 18 minutes off the bench with 12 points, two assists, one board and a swipe. He went 4-of-5 from the field (.800), and a perfect 1-of-1 from three (1.000) and 3-of-3 (1.000) from the charity stripe.
- Josiah Harris finished with a game-best 10 rebounds to go along with six points and a block. The Wilmington, Delaware native has posted double-digit boards in back-to-back games and now three times overall this year.
- Brandon Maclin had another strong contest with eight points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal. He has pulled in five-plus boards in each of his last five games.
- Isaiah Gaines added six points, seven boards and a game-best five helpers.
- Ibu Yamazaki (six points, two rebounds, one steal), David Early (four points, one assist, one rejection) and TJ NeSmith (four points, four boards) also chipped in during the victory.
- To repeat a growing trend, the Highlanders had eight student-athletes with at least four points and 11 that contributed on the statsheet overall.
- Radford finished with a strong advantage in points in the paint (40 to 22) and bench points (20 to seven).
- The depth of the team continues to be on display to open the 2024-25 campaign. Coming into the night, the Highlanders were ranked first in the Big South and 23rd in all of NCAA Division I basketball with 36.4 bench points per game.
- Radford also grabbed another eight offensive rebounds, a stat the squad ranked 19th in the country coming into the contest.
- It was the first meeting between the Highlanders and Mastodons all-time.
CHAMPION HIGHLANDERS
NEXT UP
The Highlanders will head home for a much deserved Thanksgiving break before returning to the court against Saint Francis on Sunday, December 1. Tip is set for 2 PM ET inside DeGol Arena and the game will be played on NEC Front Row.
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