Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 24, 1995 TAG: 9501240127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The whole game, it was misery for Radford University.
Charleston Southern, which has had some mighty struggles of its own this season, held the Highlanders to 30.6 percent field-goal shooting in the second half and won the Big South Conference game 82-79 on Monday night at the Dedmon Center.
Dr. Jairy Hunter, the Charleston Southern president, is one of two finalists for a similar post at Radford, it was announced last week. Should he win the job, he won't be the first from that South Carolina city to come north to dictate policy in Radford.
Gary Edwards, the Buccaneers' coach, did that Monday when he called for a trapping defense in the last five minutes of the game. With that, Radford lost sight of its interior offense and the game turned for good.
Antoine Dalton, who buckled the Bucs' for most of the game by scoring from the low post or the free-throw line (his 10-for-10 night at the stripe tied a school record), finished with 26 points. Once Charleston Southern went to the trap, he hardly touched the ball again.
``We don't use the trap that much, but we didn't feel like we could guard them using a traditional defense,'' Edwards said.
After Dalton's two free throws tied the score with 3 minutes, 52 seconds left, Charleston Southern (8-9 overall, 4-3 Big South) went on a 6-0 run in the next 1:29 to put away Radford.
Radford guard Anthony Walker cut it to 80-77 when he buried a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left, but T.L. Latson put the Bucs back up by five with a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left.
Charleston Southern allowed Walker to sweep into the lane for the last two of his 18 points with five seconds left. Jeff Daniels then missed two free throws with four seconds to go. But Chibi Johnson's outlet pass was wild and time expired without Radford ever attempting a shot to tie.
It was a bitter last few minutes for the Highlanders (9-7, 3-4), who lost their third game at home for the first time during a season since 1989-90.
``Really, the key to the game was giving up 47 points in the first half,'' said Ron Bradley, Radford's coach. ``We had a chance to get back into the conference race, but we didn't come to play.''
It was mentioned that it was the second grueling league game in three nights (Radford beat Coastal Carolina 88-84 on Saturday), but Bradley refused to use that as an alibi.
``Kids got to play,'' he said.
Walker was the first to admit that didn't happen, at least not for a full 40 minutes.
``You play the way you practice,'' he said. ``We had a bad practice yesterday and a bad pregame today. Sluggish, sloppy - our heads weren't in it.''
Radford got 11 points out of Jason Lansdown before he fouled out with 1:22 left. It got 12 rebounds, eight of them offensive, from freshman Kevin Robinson as Radford outrebounded the Bucs 43-38.
``Robinson was kicking our rear ends on the offensive boards,'' Edwards said.
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB