Charleston Southern Outshoots Radford

RADFORD, Va. -- Charleston Southern shot a blistering 57.8 percent from the field, including 50 percent from beyond the arc to defeat Radford 67-60 in a Big South Conference game Monday night at the Dedmon Center. (Box Score)

Charleston Southern moves to 3-0 to start the Conference season for the first time since 1994-95. The Bucs improve to 6-7 overall. Radford falls to 1-2 in Big South play and 6-8 overall. It was the first win for CSU at the Dedmon Center since the 1996-97 season.

The Highlanders struggled from the field, shooting 35.3 percent. Radford kept pace with CSU by hitting 82.6 percent of its free throws, scoring on 19-of-23.

Charleston Southern slowly built a lead early in the first half, pulling ahead by as much as five several times, but RU would close the gap each time, knotting the score at 16 on a layup by sophomore Reggie McIntyre (Piedmont, S.C.) at 10:23. CSU again built a lead, pushing it to seven at the end of the half on a trey by sophomore Donnell Covington (Goose Creek, S.C.), giving the Bucs a 33-26 halftime advantage.

After RU junior Whit Holcomb-Faye (Winston-Salem, N.C.) hit a jumper to start the second half, junior Terrell Brown (Charlotte, N.C.) gave CSU and eight-point advantage with a three-pointer. The Bucs pushed the lead to 10 on a layup by senior Nathan Ball (Greensboro, N.C.) at 9:54. The Highlanders responded with a 7-0 run, five of which came on free throws, to pull within three with 8:13 left.

Charleston Southern pushed the lead to 12 on another three by Covington with 2:47 remaining. Radford was unable to put together a rally in the closing minutes and CSU hit its free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Holcomb-Faye led all scorers with 15 points and five assists. RU sophomore Chris Oliver (Kernersville, N.C.) scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds and three steals. McIntyre led Radford on the glass, snaring 10 boards.

CSU placed three players in double figures, led by ball’s 13 points. Junior Thomas Harrison (New York, N.Y.) tallied 11 points and had three steals. Senior Kurtis Rice (Salt Lake City, Utah)scored 10 points. Brown also had three steals to go with nine points. Senior Jovan Jegdic (Belgrade, Serbia) led the Bucs with eight rebounds.

Radford will be off until Saturday when it will play at League-rival Winthrop at 4:30 pm. Charleston Southern, who opened its league schedule with three straight road wins, will play at home Saturday against High Point at 4:00 pm.