Radford Falls Short In Conference Opener

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Birmingham-Southern had two players tally 20-plus points as the Panthers outlasted Radford men's basketball 61-59 Wednesday night at Bill Battle Coliseum in the Big South Conference opener for both teams. (Box Score)

Junior Thomas Viglianco led all scorers with 21 and senior Shema Mbyirukira scored 20 points. Mbyirukira led BSC on the glass with eight boards. Radford held Jakob Sigurdarson, Birmingham-Southern’s leading scorer to four points on 1-of-6 shooting.

BSC improved to 8-4, 1-0 in the league and handed head coach Duane Reboul his 375th career victory. Radford dropped to 5-7, 0-1, with its fourth straight loss.

The Panthers led the entire way, but had to fend off a furious Highlander rally in the waning minutes for the win.

BSC led 57-48 on a dunk by Mbyirukira with 1:08 to play, but a Panther turnover sandwiched four free throws by Radford's Whit Holcomb-Faye to bring the Highlanders to within 57-52 with 44 seconds left.

Following a long 3-pointer by Holcomb-Faye, Mbyirukira calmly canned two free throws to give BSC a 61-55 lead with just 16 ticks remaining. RU's Olumuyiwa Popoola, who led the Highlanders with 15 points, scored two layups in the final 3.1 seconds for the final margin.

Chris Oliver added 14 points and a game-best nine rebounds for Radford, while Reggie McIntyre chipped in 12.

Viglianco and Mbyirukira combined for 16 of the Panthers' 22 field goals. The former high school teammates were 8-of-12 and 8-of-11 from the field, respectively, while the rest of the team was only 6-of-26.

The Panthers also struggled from the free throw line, shooting just 55 percent (12-for-22), while Radford, the Big South's best from the charity stripe, was 11-of-13 for 85 percent.

Mbyirukira led BSC with eight rebounds and three blocks, while Viglianco and Jimmy Amerson added six boards apiece. Sigurdarson, BSC's leading scorer, was held to four points.

Viglianco had 14 points in the first half as Birmingham-Southern built a 29-22 halftime advantage. The Panthers led by as many as 11 points on three separate occasions in the second period, the last coming at 11:26 on a basket by Viglianco.

But McIntyre scored five straight points to spark a 7-0 Radford run that sliced the lead to 43-39 with 9:54 left.

Radford would come to within four three more times, the last coming with 4:16 to play on a McIntyre basket, but BSC went on a quick 5-0 spurt with a three-point play by Mbyirukira and a James Collins layup to extend the lead to 55-46 with 2:38 left.

The win extended the Panthers home winning streak to 10 games.

The Highlanders return home to continue Big South Conference play Saturday with a 7:00 pm game versus Coastal Carolina. The Panthers will play at Big South opponent High Point at 6:00 pm on Saturday.