ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602190114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
For the first time, a television camera was not the evil eye for Radford University's basketball team.
The Highlanders proved worthy of prime time while whacking Coastal Carolina 87-68 in a televised game at the Dedmon Center on Friday night.
The victory was Radford's first in six television appearances.
``We were all motivated and pumped up for this one,'' said Jason Lansdown, the Highlanders' only senior starter. ``None of us has ever played on television before.''
Except for a lapse at the start of the second half, Radford put together a solid effort to improve its record to 13-11 overall and 7-5 in the Big South Conference.
``For about 30 or 35 minutes tonight, this team played about as well as it can play,'' Radford coach Ron Bradley said.
Most of that came in the first half when the Highlanders built a 25-point lead. Radford did very little to hurt itself throughout, outrebounding the Chanticleers (5-17, 1-11), making 48.4 percent of its shots from the field (30 of 62), and sinking 22 of 28 free throws.
Six players scored in double figures for Radford, led by Lansdown with 22 to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Kevin Robinson and Anthony Walker chipped in 12 points each and Eric Parker, Marquiz Williamson and Corey Reed added 10 each.
Ben Avery scored 25 points in 26 minutes for Coastal, which has lost nine of its past 10 with Radford.
Radford looked great in the first half, but Coastal had a lot to do with that. The Chanticleers were in a constant hurry-up mode, usually putting up the first shot that came along.
Lansdown scored 15 points in the opening half, but the big surprise was Reed, part of Radford's 14th different starting lineup this season. The lean outside sharpshooter canned both his 3-point shots, one of which was at least a 25-footer, and buried all four of his free throws.
Reed, Lansdown and Robinson were a combined 11-for-11 from the stripe in the first 20 minutes. More demoralizing than that for Coastal was Radford's 5-for-8 accuracy from beyond the arc.
Parker ended the half with a dunk at the buzzer, sending an announced audience of 3,800 - the biggest of the season - into a clamor.
But none of the momentum carried over to the second half. The Chanticleers came out cooking and produced a 25-8 run to pull to 58-50. Radford then answered with an 11-0 flurry with Parker and Williamson contributing four points apiece.
``With the big lead, you tend to relax,'' Lansdown said. ``I know I do. But Marquiz came off the bench and got us going the way we had been in the first half again.''
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB