Campbell’s Chris Clemons drilled a deep three with 0.3 seconds on the clock to hand the Radford men’s basketball team a heartbreaking 56-59 loss at Gore Arena on Sunday afternoon.
With 11.1 seconds to go in regulation and the game knotted at 56 apiece, Clemons received the inbound, pushed the ball up the court and rose above a Radford defender to bury the game-winning shot. It was his second buzzer-beating, game-winning three in the last nine days.
The Highlanders were flying high after making a huge play of their own just moments before. Redshirt freshman Carlik Jones drove the lane and completed an old-fashioned three-point play to erase a 53-56 deficit.
An ice cold second half of shooting doomed Radford as the team went 6-for-26 (23.1%) from the floor and 2-for-13 (15.4%) from beyond the arc.
The loss is only the second in eight conference games for the Highlanders, who move to 13-8 overall and 6-2 in the Big South. Campbell improves to 11-9 and 5-3 in Big South play.
Neither team let the other pull away to start, exchanging baskets for the first four minutes of action. The Camels edged just in front of the Highlanders at 6-9, but sophomore center Devonnte Holland came off the bench and promptly hit a sideline hook shot.
His basket ignited a 7-0 run that put Radford ahead, 13-9, at the 13:39 mark. Then, trailing 17-20, the Highlanders posted another run, this time of the 10-0 variety, to grab their largest lead of the half at 27-20.
Clemons kept Campbell within striking distance throughout and with a Shane Whitfield layup just before the buzzer, the Camels cut the Highlanders’ lead to 35-33 at the break.
Points were much harder to come by for both teams in the second half. Radford held the Camels without a basket for the first 3:14 of the period and only two points total through the first 7:29.
The Highlanders couldn’t get anything going either, starting the half 1-for-11 at the 11:14 mark, then 1-for-13 at 8:26, 2-for-17 at 5:39 and finally 3-for-20 at 3:59 with only one of 10 3-pointers finding the bottom of the net.
Despite the difficulty on offense, Radford’s defensive intensity never faltered and it limited the Camels to only 30.4% (7-for-23) from the field and 27.3% (3-for-11) from three in the period. Clemons, who hit the shot that mattered most, led all scorers with 22 points, but only six of them came in the second half.
Senior center Randy Phillips was the only Highlander to reach double-digits at 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Junior forward Ed Polite Jr. (9) and Jones (9) were the next closest out of the nine players who scored.
Radford still leads the all-time series with Campbell, 21-18, but the Camels have won eight of the last 12 meetings including the last four. Sunday marks only the second time this season Radford has lost when leading at the half out of 12 tries.
Under head coach Mike Jones, Radford has lost when allowing between 50-59 points only eight times in seven years. Three of those instances have come this season. The Highlanders’ bench dominated their counterparts in scoring production, 22-2.
Junior guard Caleb Tanner and redshirt senior guard Justin Cousin were both fouled on 3-point attempts and both knocked down all three free throw attempts in the first half.
With two blocks and four steals Sunday, Polite Jr. recorded at least one block and one steal in the same game for the ninth time this season. Fouls were a big problem for Radford. Holland fouled out with 6:09 to go and Phillips reached four fouls at 12:31 in the second stanza.
Radford shared the ball well when they scored, recording 15 assists on 19 made shots. Jones set a new career high with six assists. He had tallied five assists two other times this season
“It was a great college basketball that didn’t go our way. Both teams fought hard and while they made a run there late, our guys responded. A lot of things didn’t go our way, but we never dropped our heads and never stopped fighting. We gave ourselves a chance late,” said Head Coach Mike Jones.
Radford wraps up a North Carolina swing tonight when they take on High Point at 7 p.m. The Panthers are 10-9 and 5-3 in conference after taking care of business with a win at Longwood on Sunday
–RU Athletics
