Leading 64-57 with less than two minutes to play, the Radford men’s basketball team fell 66-64 to UNC Asheville after MaCio Teague hit three consecutive threes including the game-winner with three seconds to go.
Coach Mike Jones said the Highlanders put themselves in position to win that game.
“We had three possessions down the stretch with the lead where we couldn’t score from point blank range and even though we got the ball back multiple times, we couldn’t take advantage. Then on the other end our defense, who had kept us in it all day, pressured all three of those last shots so all credit goes to [MaCio] Teague being able to step up and knock those shots down,” he said.
With the game knotted at 57 and 4:29 remaining in regulation, the Highlanders broke off a 7-0 run to take a seven-point lead on the top team in the Big South. Teague had plans of his own though, and drilled 3-pointers at the 1:52, 1:13 and 0:03 marks to end the game on a 9-0 run.
The sophomore guard had been held without a single point in the first half, but he finished with 14 in the second half. His only 3-pointers of the entire game came in those final two minutes.
With the loss, Radford drops to 15-12 overall and 8-6 in the Big South. UNC Asheville improves to 18-9 including a 11-3 record in conference play to stay atop the Big South standings.
The Highlanders got off to a sluggish start in one of the conference’s toughest away venues. By the under-12 media timeout, UNC Asheville had mounted a 19-8 lead while holding Radford to 25-percent shooting (2-for-8) from the floor.
From that point on, however, the Highlanders picked it up. A 7-0 run that included six quick points from senior center Randy Phillips got them within four. Then sophomore guard Travis Fields Jr. assisted back-to-back baskets by junior forward Ed Polite Jr. and junior guard Caleb Tanner to bring Radford within one.
Radford finally took its first lead of the game at the 5:09 mark of the first half when sophomore center Devonnte Holland made a difficult catch and finish in the post to give Radford a 31-30 advantage.
The Bulldogs’ hot shooting never stopped though, and they finished the period on a 12-3 run to bring the score to 42-36 in their favor. UNC Asheville shot 60.9-percent (14-for-23) to negate Radford’s 50-percent (13-for-26) performance in the half.
It was an entirely different story in the second half as both teams struggled to score in the face of strong defenses and shot below 35-percent.
The Highlanders were the first to make a move, going on a 7-0 run early in the period to cut the deficit to 43-44 with 17:21 on the clock.
Radford went cold soon after, going scoreless for more than six minutes between 15:06 and 8:55. Sophomore guard Donald Hicks finally got the Highlanders back on the board with a hard-fought layup in traffic and the basket spurred a 10-4 run that put the visitors back in front, 57-55.
Two Ahmad Thomas free throws knotted the game at 57 and the rest is history.
UNC Asheville finished with 17 assists on 22 made field goals in an impressive show of ball movement. The Highlanders weren’t bad either, accumulating 13 assists on their 24 baskets.
Polite Jr. led Radford with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor and a 5-for-6 day from the free throw line. Jones joined him in double-figures with 12 points.
Through 72 games played in the all-time head-to-head series between Radford and UNC Asheville, both teams have 36 wins. UNC Asheville is now 12-0 at Kimmel Arena this season
Radford dominated on the boards, out-rebounding UNC Asheville 36-24. Their 19 offensive rebounds were the most against a Division I opponent this season.
Redshirt freshman guard Carlik Jones connected on multiple threes for the first time since Jan. 18 against Longwood. Polite Jr. has recorded at least one steal and one block in back-to-back games and in 11 different games this season.
Junior forward Tristan Owens pulled down a rebound for the first time since grabbing four against Erskine on Dec. 9, 2017.
The Highlanders committed nine turnovers in the first half alone. They had nine turnovers in the entire game against High Point last Wednesday.
Coach Jones utilized an 11-player rotation while only seven players saw the floor for the Bulldogs. Of those seven players, four scored double-digit points: Raekwon Miller (17), Teague (14), Thomas (13) and Kevin Vannatta (11) who played all 40 minutes for UNC Asheville, the first time an opposing player has done so in regulation this season.
The Highlanders return home for their second-to-last home game of the season to take on the Campbell Camels this Thursday for a contest will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU at 9 p.m.
–RU Athletics
