Ed Polite Jr. had 11 points in RU’s Wednesday night loss, but with his second bucket of the evening, the senior power forward reached the 1,000 point mark in a Highlander uniform.
In a serious case of déjà vu, the Radford University men’s basketball team found itself in a position to hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating shot against High Point. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, that final shot fell short this time as they fell 61-60 at the Dedmon Center on Wednesday night.
A miscommunication between Highlander teammates on High Point’s final possession allowed the Panthers to keep the ball. Jahaad Proctor took a shot from the top of the key with 26 seconds left and the ball missed the basket completely, bouncing harmlessly out of bounds. Radford thought it would take over on offense, but redshirt freshman Carlik Jones was said to have gotten of piece of Proctor’s shot and the referees awarded HPU the ball.
High Point’s Andre Fox, who led all scorers with 14 points, hit 1-of-2 free throws after being fouled moments later. Head Coach Mike Jones called timeout with 17 seconds left to draw up the final play for Radford, but it resulted in an off-balance shot that fell short as the horn sounded.
With the loss, Radford drops to 15-11 overall including an 8-5 record in the Big South. Meanwhile, High Point gets revenge for a 78-76 Radford win at the Millis Center last month while improving to 12-12 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
It was an up-and-down first half for the Highlanders. After taking a 7-4 lead within the first two minutes, High Point used a 6-0 run to take the lead right back.
It was junior forward Ed Polite Jr. alongside sophomore guards Donald Hicks and Travis Fields Jr. who ignited a 9-0 run for Radford with three straight makes from beyond the arc. The run extended to 13-2 after more sharpshooting by the Highlanders, extending their lead to 22-14 at the 10:16 mark.
Junior guard Caleb Tanner added a 3-pointer of his own with 9:35 left in regulation, but it signaled the end of Radford’s strong shooting night. The team failed to score again until 2:30 remained on the clock.
The Panthers pieced together a 12-3 run to cut their deficit to one at 25-24. Free throws by sophomore center Devonnte Holland and an old-fashion 3-point play from Fox in the final minute of the half brought the score to 31-28 in Radford’s favor as the teams headed to the locker room.
While the first half featured a bevy of runs from both teams, the second half was a purely back-and-forth affair. Only one run lasted for more than five points as each shot was answered by an opposing field goal.
High Point chipped away and eventually took a 43-41 lead with 10 minutes to go, their first lead since the 16:25 mark of the first period.
Radford’s biggest positive of the night came with 8:55 to go. Polite Jr. grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back in to record the 1,000th point of his already illustrious career. He becomes the 31st player in program history to reach the plateau.
The Lanham, Md. native led the Highlanders with 11 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and 26th of his career.
Hicks went 3-for-6 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 from the free throw line to lead Radford in scoring with 12 points. Jones’ three that tied the game at 60 put him at 10 points on the night.
The all-time series between Radford and High Point now sits at 24-21 in favor of the Highlanders. The last five meetings between these two teams have featured three overtime contests and have been decided by a combined 10 points.
