Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310169
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: SPORTS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Radford University's basketball team finally found a way to make the simple stuff work.
The Highlanders snapped an unattractive two-game losing streak Monday night by rediscovering their inside game.
Thirteen of Radford's last 17 points came from down low as the Highlanders turned back North Carolina-Asheville 71-68 in a Big South Conference game at the Dedmon Center.
That was in stark contrast to the two previous defeats.
``Definitely,'' said freshman forward Kevin Robinson, who scored all six of his second-half points in the last 9 minutes, 31 seconds. ``Point guard Anthony Walker and off guard Jason Lansdown were looking inside a lot more than usual tonight.''
Robinson finished with 11 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. The other beneficiary of the look-to-the-post stratgy was Antoine Dalton, who had seven of his nine second-half points in the last 7:11. Dalton led the Highlanders with 21 points.
``They were playing mostly man-to-man defense in the second half, but they weren't trapping down as much,'' Dalton said.
Only four people scored for Radford (10-8 overall, 4-5 Big South) after halftime. Lansdown and Walker were the other two and of Walker's three field goals and Lansdown's one after the break, all were 3-point shots.
``I was looking inside first,'' Walker said. ``The 3s just came out of the offense. If I was open,I have the green light to shoot it.''
Radford made 53.8 percent of its shots for the game, the first Bulldogs opponent to shoot over 50 percent in the past 12 games.
William Coley kept UNCA (8-10, 4-4) within striking distance by scoring 13 of his 21 points in the second half.
``We didn't shoot very well [39.3 percent], but I'd like to think Radford had something to do with that,'' UNCA coach Randy Wiel said.
After losing two of three including a 89-62 blowout at North Carolina-Greensboro on Saturday, Radford needed to do something positive in the first half and it did.
The Highlanders were ahead most of the way the first 20 minutes. The big factor was the shooting, something Radford didn't do at well against UNCG. This time, the Highlanders buried 56.7 percent of their first-half shots with Dalton hammering in five of his eight attempts.
Dalton had 12 points and Lansdown 10 as Radford took a 41-37 halftime lead. The Highlanders had been up 41-34 - their biggest advantage of the half - on a three-point play by Dalton with 44 seconds left, but Jeff Coble came down the floor and bottomed out a 3-pointer - his only points of the half - with 24 seconds left to provide the margin at the break.
Another positive note for Radford was a 21-11 bulge on the backboards, Chibi Johnson leading with six coming off the bench. Radford prevailed 38-27 for the game.
by CNB