GAME NOTES
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE STATS
CONWAY, S.C. -- Following its overtime quarterfinal win over Charleston Southern, Radford travels to Coastal Carolina’s Kimbel Arena for semifinal play against Winthrop in the 2010 Advance Auto Parts Big South Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday night.
The matchup between the second-seeded Highlanders (19-11) and third-seeded Winthrop (17-13), the first semifinal game on Thursday, tips off at 6 p.m. and can be seen live nationally on ESPNU.
With its 64-61 win over seventh-seeded Charleston Southern in quarterfinal action on Tuesday night, Radford improved to 22-22 in Big South tournament contests. The Highlanders are making their 17th appearance in the semifinal round (6-10 record) and their second in a row.
Entering Thursday’s matchup, Winthrop, the 2008 Big South Tournament champion, is 5-2 all-time against Radford in postseason play.
The winner of Thursday’s game advances to the championship on Saturday at 4 p.m., a matchup against the winner of the second semifinal between top-seed Coastal Carolina and fourth-seeded UNC Asheville. A Radford win combined with a UNCA victory would bring the championship to the Dedmon Center by virtue of the Big South Tournament format that awards the title game to the tournament’s highest remaining seed.
In Tuesday’s action, Radford moved past Charleston Southern thanks in part to
Art Parakhouski’s (Minsk, Belarus) 24-point, 13-rebound double-double that included the game-clinching free throw with five seconds left.
Charleston Southern forced overtime for the second straight meeting between the two teams, outscoring Radford 10-2 in the final 5:10 of regulation. But the Highlanders scored the first six points in the first four overtime minutes and never looked back.
Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) had his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and
Laz Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) finished with 14 points for Radford. Both Parakhouski and Lynch-Flohr recorded their second consecutive tournament double-doubles, dating back to the 2009 finals win over VMI.
Winthrop, an 80-72 winner over sixth-seeded Liberty, got a career-high 26 points from Reggie Middleton. In addition to Middleton’s production, senior forward Mantoris Robinson had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double. Winthrop, which came into the game shooting 38 percent from the floor for the season, connected on 50 percent (28 of 56) of its tries, highlighted by the 8-for-12 performance by Middleton. The Eagles limited Liberty to 39.3 percent shooting.
Radford swept the regular season series with Winthrop (Dec. 3 – 61-59, away; Feb. 27 – 54-52, home) and has four straight wins in the series with the Eagles. The Highlanders are 31-26 all-time against Winthrop heading into Thursday’s game.