Radford Cruises Past Ferrum, 89-60

RADFORD, Va. - Senior Olumuyiwa Popoola (Gardena, Calif.) was one point shy of a career high and sophomore Chris Oliver (Kernersville, N.C.) picked up a double-double to lead Radford men's basketball to an 89-60 win over Ferrum Monday night at the Dedmon Center. (Box Score)

Popoola scored 23 points, one off his career high 24, to lead all scorers. He scored 17 of those points in the first half. Popoola also tallied three steals, two blocks and two assists. Oliver, who was named Big South Player of the Week prior to tip-off, posted his second career double-double scoring 16 points and scooping up 11 rebounds. Junior Whit Holcomb-Faye (Winston-Salem, N.C.) had 18 points for the Highs with six assists and four steals. It was the fourth straight game for RU in which at least three players have reached double-figure scoring.

Radford (3-1) slowly built a first-half lead, sparked by an early 9-2 run that was capped by a jumper from Oliver. A jumper at 3:49 by Holcomb-Faye gave the Highs their largest lead of 14. Ferrum (1-3) closed that down to nine, but a layup and three-pointer by Popoola pushed the Highlander lead to 14 for a 42-28 score at the intermission.

The teams traded buckets to start the second half before a jumper from sophomore Keith Harris (Ringgold, va.) jumper at 13:48 topped off a 9-3 run by the Panthers to cut the RU lead to eight. The Highlanders responded with a 12-2 run, with eight of those points coming from senior Brandon Jeffers (Baltimore, Md.). The run gave Radford an 18-point lead, which the Highs would eventually push to a 29-point advantage for the final margin.

Ferrum was led by sophomore Ken Holley’s (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 16 points and five rebounds. Freshman Kenny Johnson (Beaver Falls, Pa) had 13 points, five assists and four steals for the Panthers and Harris finished with 11 points.

Radford will play at home again Thursday, hosting North Carolina A&T at 7:00 pm. Ferrum will face Flagler on Dec. 3 at 8:00 pm in the Roger Taylor Invitational.