Charlotte, N.C. – Winthrop fell 78-69 to third-seeded Radford, Friday evening in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tires Big South Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
(6) WINTHROP (15-17, 10-8 Big South)
(3) RADFORD (19-13, 12-6 Big South)
- Josiah Jeffers (21 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals)
- Shaquan Jules (20 points, 6 rebounds)
- Daquan Smith (16 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block)
FIRST HALF
- Kelton Talford opened the scoring as he went to work on the offensive glass, boarding his own miss and dropping it through the net for the early lead
- The game was tied 4-4 when Bryan Antoine drilled a three to start a 5-0 spurt that had the Highlanders up 9-4 at the 14:42 mark
- Trailing 20-16 with just over eight minutes left in the half, Kelton Talford passed the ball to the top of the key and Sin'Cere McMahon knocked down a three
- Eagles had a chance to take the lead after a defensive stop but a turnover led to a second chance three from Daquan Smith
- The Smith three way answered by Talford inside as he scored to trail 23-21 with 7:02 left
- On the ensuing possession Radford's Josiah Jeffers scored in the paint while getting fouled and completed the three-point play
- Following a Winthrop turnover Smith knocked down a jumper near the free throw line to lead 28-21
- Cory Hightower back down his man, spun and scored with the left hand but Smith answered with a three for Radford's largest lead to that point at 31-23
- The lead was pushed to nine points after a loose rebound fell in Shaquan Jules' hands and he had an easy dunk for the 33-24 lead
- Harrison drew the Eagles within six as he kissed a shot off the glass while getting fouled and completed the three-point play
- Radford outscored the Eagles 8-2 in the final 2:27 of the half to lead 41-29 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Jules scored the first points of the second half as he scored off a Winthrop turnover
- Harrison came right back with a drive and score off glass, but Josiah Jeffers scored off the drive to give Radford a 14-point lead
- Harrison knocked down a three only to have it matched by a three from Antoine as Radford led 48-34 at the 18:29 mark
- Following two missed free throws from Talford the Eagles were rewarded an offensive team board and out of the inbounds play Harrison found Hightower in the corner for three
- Eagles continued to try and chip away at the Radford double-digit advantage and midway through the half tried to put a run together trailing by 16 points
- Chase Claxton knocked down a left win three and then Harrison made two free throws for a 5-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 11 but again Radford had an answer
- A dunk by Jules off a dish from Jeffers with 5:07 left put the Highlanders up 15
- The Eagles had one more run in them to try and get the deficit to single-digits which started with a Talford layup
- After Harrison went 1-for-2 at the foul line, he drove and dished to Talford for a dunk and getting within eight points at the 2:18 mark
- A three-point play by Talford with 1:37 remaining cut it to a seven point game but that was as close as the Eagles got
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor in the second half as the Eagles hit 58 percent and Radford connected on 57 percent
- For the game, Radford shot 54 percent from the field and Winthrop shot 50 percent
- The Eagles were just 5-of-19 behind the arc (26%) while Radford was 8-of-19 (42%)
- Winthrop finished 14-for-26 at the foul line while Radford was 10-of-14
- The turnover battle favored Radford as it committed just six turnovers and turned 12 Winthrop miscues into 20 points
- Winthrop won the rebounding battled 34-29 and outscored Radford 40-34 in the paint
- Harrison led all scorers with a career-high 26 points as he was 9-of-11 from the field and 7-of-9 at the foul line
- Talford recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds
NOTABLES
- Harrison's 26 points were tied for the sixth most points scored in a Big South Tournament game by an Eagle
- Harrison set a program record for field goal percentage in a Big South Tournament game by a Winthrop player going 9-for-11 (.818), outdoing the previous best of 8-of-10 by Greg Washington in 1989
- This was the 144th game played by Cory Hightower as he finishes his career with 1,753 points, 851 rebounds and 311 assists
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