Oliver, Holcomb-Faye Lead Radford To First Big South Win

RADFORD, Va. -- Two Radford players scored over 20 points to snap a four-game losing streak and lead the Highlanders to a 93-82 Big South Conference win, their first of the season, over Coastal Carolina Saturday night at the Dedmon Center. (Box Score)

Sophomore Chris Oliver (Kernersville, N.C.) scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead all players. Junior Whit Holcomb-Faye (Winston-Salem, N.C) tallied a season-best 23 points. Sophomore Reggie McIntyre (Piedmont, S.C.) also tallied 14 points for RU.

Radford improved to 6-7 overall and tallied its first League win to move to 1-1 in Big South Conference play. The Chanticleers fell to 1-1 in the Big South and 4-10 overall.

Coastal Carolina took control of the game with a 9-2 run after the two teams swapped buckets in the early going. Radford closed back within one on a jumper by McIntyre to make the score 23-22. The Chanticleers again extended their lead pushing it to six on a three-pointer by senior Alvin Green (Socastee, S.C.). CCU would hold off RU and head into halftime with a 44-38 advantage.

Radford came out of the break and quickly tied the game at 46 on a three-pointer by Holcomb-Faye. The teams again traded buckets, with the Chants establishing a three-point advantage on a jumper by junior Pele Paelay (Derwood, Md.) with 10 minutes remaining. The Highlanders responded with a 10-0 run, book-ended by free throws to pull ahead by seven with 6:12 left. Another Radford 5-0 gave the Highlanders an 11-point lead. RU would push that lead as high as 14 on a free throw by senior Olumuyiwa Popoola (Gardena, Calif.) before a trey by Coastal freshman Jack Leasure (Rochester, N.Y.) set the final margin. RU, the Big South’s best team at the charity stripe, sunk 13-of-16 from the line in the final 2:49 to preserve the victory.

Coastal was paced by sophomore Moses Sonko’s (East Greenwich, R.I.) 18 points. Paelay had 14 points and a team-high six rebounds. Leasure finished with 13 and Green had 11 points. Both Green and Leasure had four assists, as did junior Colin Stevens (Phoenix, Md.) and sophomore Adrian Gross (Galesville, Md.).

Both teams shot well in the high-scoring affair. The Chanticleer hit 50 percent of their shots while RU shot 52.6 percent from the field.

Radford will host League-leading Charleston Southern (2-0) Monday at 7:00 pm at the Dedmon Center. Coastal Carolina will face VMI in a Big South game at 7:00 pm on Monday.