Radford Battles Through Foul Troubles, Comes Up Short in Season Opener

Monday, November 2

San Francisco, CA

10:00 PM (ET) / 7:00 PM (PT)

Radford University

0-1,0-0Big South

San Francisco

1-0,0-0WCC

Team	1	2	F
Radford	30	32	62
San Francisco	37	39	76

Photo by: Matthew Maldonado

11/3/2026 12:42:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The Radford men's basketball program battled through turnovers and foul troubles to play tight at San Francisco Monday night but ultimately came up short in their season opener 76-62.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Three different Highlanders finished in double figures scoring including Frederik Erichsen (12), Mathieu Grujicic (11) and Ja'Corey Robinson (10).
The Highlanders shot well overall on the night at 44%, two percentage points higher than the Dons. Grujicic and Robinson each had a pair of three's and accounted for two of five different Highlanders with deep makes.
Turnovers would plague the Highlanders in the game as the team finished with 19. San Francisco took advantage of a 19-9 edge in that battle, converting those slip ups into 21 points.
Fouls also hurt as San Francisco scored 21 points from the charity stripe. Radford would take just 16 free throws compared to their opponent's 35.

THE PLAY BY PLAY
Through the first half, the Highlanders young lineup would work through some early struggles to keep things close by halftime. The Dons began the game on a 5-0 run before returner Frederik Erichsen was able to break the ice with Radford's first points. Down 12-4, Radford got back-to-back threes from Zion Walker and Mathieu Grujicic that quickly tightened the game.

Turnovers and fouls quickly piled up for the Highlanders, though, capping the team's offensive showing. Despite a strong shooting clip, Radford wasn't getting many shots up overall compared to San Francisco. After the first half, the host Dons had large margin leads in offensive rebounds (9-2) and turnovers (4-10) but didn't convert too many of those opportunities as they only led second chance points 7-4 and points off turnovers 7-3.

A layup by Cameron Jackson kept Radford close, trailing 14-16, with 11:56 left in the half. Radford's next make wouldn't come until the nine-minute mark as a cold spell allowed the Dons to pull back ahead. Radford regrouped and got a flurry of makes from Ja'Corey Robinson while Erichsen and Parby Kabamba got some strong looks in the paint to trail just 28-35 at halftime.

Radford roared back out of halftime and quickly scored 10 points to pull within striking distance of their first lead of the game. Warren Keel Jr. played a large role in that comeback as he hit a floater, a turn around and sunk three free throws for seven quick points to make it 41-40 San Francisco at the 17-minute mark.

The Highlanders offense would cool off, but the defense played stout to keep things close. An Erichsen dunk helped break that cold stretch and Kabamba also added a three as both teams traded big shots. Tristan Gross would come alive for his first points of the night late while Erichsen hit another three that pulled Radford back within four with under ten minutes to play.

San Francisco would use the free throw line a majority of the time the rest of the way to ultimately pull away and put the game out of reach. Foul trouble started to mount for Radford as three different players fouled out to shorten the bench. Keel and Grujicic would add to their strong nights late, but it wasn't enough as San Francisco held on for the 76-62 final.

UP NEXT
Radford turns things around quickly as they cross the bay to take on California this Wednesday, November 4th. Action tips off at 9:00 p.m. (ET) and will be streaming on ACC Network Extra.

STAY SOCIAL WITH RADFORD MEN'S BASKETBALL
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