Radford Defeats UNC Asheville, Claims Fifth Seed

RADFORD, Va. -- Radford men's basketball placed four players in double figures en route to a 91-75 Big South Conference win over UNC Asheville Saturday night at the Dedmon Center in the final regular season game for both teams. (Box Score)

The victory, coupled with other results around the League, gives the Highlanders (12-15; 7-9 Big South) the fifth seed for next week’s Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Championships. RU will travel to fourth-seeded Birmingham-Southern for an 8:00 pm (ET) first round tip-off on Tuesday. The Bulldogs (11-16; 8-8 Big South) will be the third seed in the tournament and will host sixth-seeded High Point Tuesday at 7:00 pm at the Justice Center.

Senior Olumuyiwa Popoola (Gardena, Calif.) led all scorers with 21 points. Sophomore Chris Oliver (Kernersville, N.C.) tallied 15 for RU and senior Brandon Jeffers (Baltimore, Md.) had 14. Freshman Josh Fox (Staunton, Va.) finished with 13. Oliver led Radford on the glass with seven rebounds, and junior Andre Bynum (Gastonia, N.C.) dished out seven assists.

UNCA was led by junior Oliver Holmes’ (Wilmington, N.C.) 17 points and six rebounds. Senior Bryan McCullough (Salisbury, N.C.) had 14 points and also grabbed six boards. Junior Omar Collington (Decatur, Ga.) scored 12 and sophomore K.J. Garland (Greensboro, N.C.) had 11 points and seven assists. The Bulldogs struggled from beyond the arc, hitting 4-of-26.

Radford opened the game with an offensive flurry, jumping out to an 11-4 run, but the Bulldogs responded with a run of their own and pulled within one on a lay-up by McCullough at the 15:15 mark. The teams traded baskets until 9:50 when a free throw by Fox began a 20-6 run by the Highs that consumed six minutes and gave RU a 41-22 lead on a trey by senior redshirt freshman Dan Ross (Baltimore, Md.). The teams again traded baskets to go into halftime with Radford leading 44-27.

The Highlanders pushed the lead as high as 25 on two occasions in the second half. UNC Asheville closed to with in 13 towards the end of the game on a 3-pointer by K.J. Garland, but the Bulldogs ran out of time to complete the comeback.

The game also marked the final regular season home contest for Jeffers and Popoola. Both seniors were honored prior to tip-off.