Radford, Va. – Cory Hightower's 22 points led Winthrop as it came up short in a 69-66 loss at Radford, Saturday afternoon at the Dedmon Center.
WINTHROP (11-14, 6-6 Big South)
RADFORD (16-9, 10-2 Big South)
- DaQuan Smith (24 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals)
- Bryan Antoine (11 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 steal)
- Shaquan Jules (10 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block)
FIRST HALF
- Eagles jumped out to a 6-0 lead after Sin'Cere McMahon and Cory Hightower hit back-to-back threes from the right wing
- The was 9-3 after Hightower scored in the paint, two and a half minutes into the game
- Winthrop held the lead until two free throws by Shaquan Jules made two free throws for a 10-9 advantage
- The free throw started an 8-0 run by Radford to push its lead to 18-11 with just under 12 minutes left
- Hightower put a stop to the run with his second three of the game
- Radford pushed its lead to 27-18 with 8:47 on the clock after Jules scored at the rim
- Kasen Harrison cut it back to a two possession game as he knocked down a three and the Eagles began to chip away at the deficit
- A Toneari Lane triple with 5:39 left drew the Eagles within three points at 31-28
- The Highlanders pushed the lead back to nine points with 1:24 left in the half but four straight points by the Eagles that included a steal by Chase Claxton that led to a layup from Kelton Talford made it 41-36 at the half
SECOND HALF
- Eagles scored first out of the half as Hightower boarded a miss and scored
- That ignited a 7-0 run that put the Eagles back in the lead at 43-41 just shy of three minutes into the half
- Down three, the Eagles boarded a miss and quickly pushed the ball in transition as McMahon hit a trailing Talford down the middle of the lane for a slam that forced a timeout by Radford
- Then McMahon put the Eagles on top with another three from the right side
- A quick 6-0 spurt put Radford back in front at 49-43 with 15:04 to play in the game
- Radford held the lead for the next four minutes until Winthrop tied the game at 54-54 after Lane went 1-for-2 at the line
- A Claxton free throw gave Winthrop a brief lead but then Radford put together a 7-0 run beginning with a three from Bryan Antoine
- Five straight points by Hightower with a layup and triple tied the game at 64-64 with just over five minutes remaining
- The teams only combined for five points over the final five minutes as Radford held off the Eagles for the win
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eagles shot 44 percent from the floor and finished 8-of-22 behind the arc (36%)
- Radford was held to 33 percent shooting in the second half, but finished the game at 45 percent
- Eagles won the battle on the glass 35-29 and both teams finished with eight offensive boards
- Eagles had a 14-4 advantage in second chance points and a 15-13 advantage in points off turnovers
- Hightower led the Eagles with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting and was a perfect 4-for-4 from three
- Talford finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds
NOTABLES
- Hightower posted his 12th career 20-point game, his fourth of the season
- Hightower also hauled in six rebounds to move past 800, becoming just 1-of-6 active players (NCAA D1) with 1,600 career points, 800 career rebounds and 300 career assists
- He also became the 26th player in program history to reach 100 career threes and now has 102 in his Winthrop career (159 total in career)
- The loss ended a three-game win streak and the winning streak in the month of February comes to an end at 15 straight
UP NEXT
Winthrop remains on the road as it heads to Asheville, N.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 8 to take on league-leading UNC Asheville at 6:30 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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