Radford Falls To Winthrop
RADFORD, Va.—Defending Big South champion Winthrop placed four players in double figures and shot 60 percent from the field in the first half to defeat Radford 77-59 in a regionally televised Big South men’s basketball game Saturday afternoon at the Dedmon Center.

Radford was nearly perfect from the line, shooting 92.3 percent and had three players finish in double figures, led by junior Kenny Thomas’ (Richmond, Va.) 13 points. RU shot 36.4 percent from the field and 35 percent from long distance.

The Eagles hit 15-of-25 in the first half from the field, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range. Junior Michael Jenkins (Kinston, N.C.) led all scorers with 20 points, hitting 7-of-10 from the field, four of which were 3-pointers and senior Taj McCullough (Atlanta, Ga.) finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 from the field.

Back-to-back triples and a jumper by McCullough turned an early three-point Winthrop lead into an 11-point advantage. Four made Radford free throws, a jumper by sophomore Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va.) and back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Martell McDuffy (Laurel, Md.) closed the gap back to one at 20-19 with 89:24 to play. Winthrop scored the next eight points and then traded points the rest of the half, taking a 43-32 lead at halftime.

Radford cut the lead to 10 on a trey by sophomore Amir Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa.), but Winthrop scored eight of the next 10 points to take an 18-point lead with 14:53 to play. The Highlanders could not get any closer than 15 the rest of the way despite a late 8-2 run that was sparked by five points from McDuffy.

McDuffy and Johnson each had 11 points for RU and Johnson had six assists. Thomas had three steals on the defensive side of the ball and Lynch-Flohr pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Freshman Alex Gynes (Nowra, Australia) and sophomore Phillip Martin (Roanoke, Va.) combined for nine points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Sophomore Mantoris Robinson (Charlotte, N.C.) had 14 points and three blocks for WU, and senior Chris Gaynor (Winston-Salem, N.C.) finished with 11 points, four steals and six assists. Jenkins led the Eagles with seven rebounds.

Radford hits the road for a single game at UNC Asheville Wednesday at 7:00 pm before returning home to face High Point the following Monday at 7:00 pm. Winthrop will host High Point on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

High Point Falls Short Against Coastal Carolina
HIGH POINT - A furious second half rally by High Point (8-8, 1-2 Big South) came up just short in a hard-fought 66-61 loss to Coastal Carolina (9-7, 2-1) on a snowy Saturday night in the Millis Athletic Center in front of a crowd of 2,008.

Senior Arizona Reid had 25 points and 12 rebounds for HPU while CCU senior Jack Leasure finished with 33 points including 8 treys.

The loss snapped a 10-game home win streak for the Panthers, who have now won 25 of their last 27 at the MACC. The win was also the first road win of the year for Coastal Carolina, who had been 0-6.

Reid's Big South leading 12th double-double kept the Panthers in the game, and his shot in the lane with 1:10 left cut Coastal Carolina's lead to 63-61. He climbed to 3rd on the all-time Big South rebounding list with 849.

Leasure, who was one point shy of his career high, shot 8-for-15 from 3-point range for the Chanticleers, who nearly blew a 20-point second-half lead.

David Campbell had 13 points and Eugene Harris 11 for High Point. Mario Sisinni hit four 3s and added 12 points for Coastal Carolina.

Both teams struggled to get in synch in the opening half with Coastal taking a 29-22 lead into the halftime break. The Panthers were just 2-16 (12.5 percent) from the 3-point line against a pesky 1-3-1 zone defense by Coastal in the first period while the Chants drained seven first half triples to help build their lead.

Coastal Carolina got things going early in the second half as High Point continued to struggle shooting the ball. Leasure hit two free throws with just over 10 minutes left to give the Chanticleers a 53-33 lead, their largest advantage of the night.
 
That's when HPU began its comeback using a 14-0 run to close the game to just six points (53-47) in under three minutes of play. Coastal again pushed back in front by double digits leading by 12, 63-51, with 3:19 to play.

However, 10 straight points by HPU including back-to-back treys from Campbell and Harris and capped by a Reid layup closed the deficit to two points with just over a minute to play.

After the Chanticleers turned it over for the 10th time in the second half, Tim Burns missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt for High Point with 0:24 left before Steven Sexton's free throws iced the win for Coastal Carolina.

High Point continues its current three-game home stand on Monday when they welcome Charleston Southern to the Millis Center at 7 p.m. Coastal Carolina travels to Lynchburg, Va., to face Liberty on Monday night.

Bannister, McLean and Smith Pace Liberty’s Win
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Anthony Smith scored a game-high 22 points and TeeJay Bannister dished out eight assists to help the Liberty Flames to its first Big South victory of the season, 79-63, over the Charleston Southern Buccaneers, Saturday night, inside the Vines Center.

Liberty joined Auburn, Tulane and Virginia Tech as the only opponents of Charleston Southern to hold the Buccaneers under 70 points in a contest this season.

The win was Liberty’s eighth straight at home and pushed the Flames’ record back to .500 at 9-9 and 1-2 in Big South Conference play. Charleston Southern falls to 7-11 and 1-2 in league action.

Charleston Southern jumped out to the early 5-2 lead, courtesy of an Omar Carter bucket in the lane, followed by a three-pointer from the wing at 17:30. The Buccaneers then extended the lead to four points, 8-4, via a three-point bucket by Shelton Carter at 15:34.

The Flames responded, exploding on a 20-5 run to take a 24-13 lead, capped by two Alex McLean baskets from the charity stripe at 9:10. During the run, Liberty tallied three-point buckets by Jeremy Anderson, Kyle Ohman and Anthony Smith. An alley-opp from TeeJay Bannister to Smith at 11:19 brought a raucous crowd to its feet, at 10:17 during the spurt.

The Buccaneers were able to cut the lead to five, 32-28, courtesy of a 15-8 advantage over the next nine minutes of play. Jamarco Warren’s three-point bucket with 47.2 seconds left ended the spurt.

Charleston Southern went into the intermission down four points, 34-30, after Tovi Bailey sank both his free throw attempts with seven-tenths of a second left in the opening period.

Liberty shot 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the floor and 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from behind the arc. Charleston Southern finished the opening stanza hitting 39.3 percent (11-of-28) from the field and 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from three-point range. The Flames won the first half battle of the boards, 20-15.

The Flames opened up the second half on a 24-9 run, taking a 54-39 lead into the second media timeout at 11:35. McLean scored the first five points of the half and seven of the Flames’ first nine markers.

Bannister hit two free throws to extend the lead to 21 points, 62-41, after Quinton Goods was tagged for a technical foul. Charleston Southern then ripped off a 15-4 run, cutting the lead down to 10 points, 66-56, capped by an Omar Carter bucket at 6:09.

However, that would be as close as the Buccaneers would get. Liberty closed out the game on a 13-7 surge, taking home its first Big South Conference win of the season, 79-63.

The Flames finished shooting 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the floor, marking the first time this season that the team had not connected on at least 50 percent of its shots in a home contest.  Liberty ended up nailing 36.0 percent (9-of-25) of its three-point attempts in the win.

Charleston Southern shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the floor and hit 33.3 percent (8-of-24) from behind the arc. Liberty won the rebound battle, 36-32, and created 14 Charleston Southern turnovers, crediting the Flames with 10 takeaways.

Smith tallied a game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three-point range.  McLean chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds, while Bannister dished out a game-high eight assists and tallied 14 points. Bannister was a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe, helping Liberty to hit 88.0 percent (22-of-25) of its free throw attempts.

Omar Carter led the Charleston Southern cause with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Shelton Carter chipped in 13 points from the bench. Chris Moore, who was averaging 14.4 points per game entering the contest, was limited to four points on 2-of-5 shooting.

Liberty returns to action on Monday when Coastal Carolina invades the Vines Center. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. Charleston Southern will head down to High Point, Monday night, to take on the Panthers, at 7 p.m.

UNC Asheville Prevails Over VMI in OT, 90-87
LEXINGTON, Va. – Kenny George, the 7-7 junior center, hit a lay-in with :11 left in OT to put UNC Asheville up for good as the Bulldogs outlasted VMI in overtime 90-87.

UNCA (14-4, 3-0) remained undefeated in Big South Conference play while VMI (10-7, 2-1) suffered its first league loss of the year and had its four-game win streak snapped.

VMI took a 87-86 lead on a Reggie Williams jumper :37 left in the extra frame. On the ensuing possession, junior forward Reid August missed a jumper, but the Keydets could not lock up on the rebound before it skipped out along the baseline with 12.8 seconds left. George, who had watched the game from the bench for the entire game up to that point, was hastily summoned by UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach and positioned himself in the paint to take an inbounds lob-in from K.J. Garland. George took the toss and easily hit the lay-in towering over Keydet defenders.

The Keydets turned the ball over on the next possession, and senior guard Bryan Smithson nailed two free throws with 5.6 left for the final margin.

The game was not decided until Williams 3-point try from the top of the key fell short as the buzzer sounded.

Williams led the Keydets in scoring with 23 points and career-high 19 rebounds, marking his fifth straight double-double and 27th of his career.

The Bulldogs, who drained 13 of 37 shots beyond the arc, were led by sophomore guard Sean Smith who hit five three-balls on his way for 17 points and senior forward Vincent James added 17 points.

The battle between the league unbeatens drew a crowd of 4,219, the third largest crowd in Cameron Hall history. The new floor, “Costen Court”, was officially dedicated in pregame ceremonies in tribute to Ralph Costen ’70, whose family flooring business performed the work last summer.

The game saw nine ties, 13 lead changes and neither team led by more than an eight-point margin.

UNCA senior guard K. J. Garland hit a 24-foot three-pointer with 0.4 left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

VMI led 28-20 following a Williams dunk with 6:30 left in the first half. But the Bulldogs later responded with a 9-2 to run to pull even at 40-40 on a John Williams 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining. VMI took a 45-43 lead at halftime.

UNCA got off to a quick start after halftime and built its largest lead of the game (51-46) on a three-point play by James at the 18:41 mark. The Keydets later led 75-70 with 7:07 remaining in regulation on a Travis Holmes 3-pointer, but UNCA countered with a 7-0 run to nudge ahead 77-75 at the 4:12 mark. VMI retook the lead, 80-77, on a Reggie Williams with 2:34 left in regulation but the game remained scoreless until Garland’s clutch trey which forced overtime.

VMI committed 21 turnovers to just eight for UNCA marking only the second time this season VMI had turned the ball over more than its opponent. The Bulldogs capitalized holding a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The Keydets led in rebounding (44-36) and outshot UNCA 53% to 44% for the game, but hit just two of seven shots from the floor in overtime. Williams was held to just six points after halftime.

Redshirt senior guard Bryan Smithson added 14 points for the Bulldogs while junior forward Reid Augst tossed in 13 points. VMI got double-figures scoring from freshman guard Christian Hunter (12 points, four 3-pointers), junior guard Chavis Holmes (11 points) and sophomore guard Adam Lonon (10 points).

VMI returns to play its sixth road game in eight contests Wednesday night when it faces Winthrop at 7:00 p.m. in Rock Hill, S.C. UNCA hosts Radford Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.