CCU

Radford Tops Coastal Carolina 81-71

           

Radford Tops Coastal Carolina 81-71

CONWAY, S.C. — Radford University's Raymond Arrington and Andrey Savtchenko each topped the 20-point mark to lead the Highlanders to an 82-71 Big South Conference men's basketball victory over Coastal Carolina University on Saturday night in Kimbel Arena. Radford improves to 7-12 overall and 2-2 in the Big South, while Coastal falls to 2-12 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

Coastal's Kelvin Coggins scored the game's first basket just 21 seconds into play, but it proved to be the only lead the Chanticleers would hold all night. Correy Watkins tied the game a few seconds later and Savtchenko's layup with 17:50 on the clock gave the Highlanders the lead for good.

Leading 9-5 with 16:16 remaining in the opening half, Radford used a 10-4 spurt over the next 2:46 to open a double-digit advantage. Coastal Carolina used a run of its own later in the half to close the gap to just five points. A quick 6-0 run by the Chants made the score 26-21 with just under six minutes to play in the half. The Highlanders promptly responded with a 10-2 run as Arrington netted the first five points of the run and David Popoola tallied the final five. Radford went on to cruise to a 41-30 lead at the break.

Radford stretched the lead to as many as 21 points twice in the second half. Coastal Carolina scored the game's last nine points to make the final score more respectable.
Arrington connected on 8-of-11 from the field, including 5-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc, to lead Radford with 23 points. Savtchenko, who connected on 8-of-12 from the field, tallied 20 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Popoola also netted double figures with 15 points. The Highlanders connected on 50 percent from the field (31-62) for the game and outrebounded Coastal 41-33.

Derrick Robinson led all scorers in the contest with 24 points, tying the career-high he set earlier this season against Western Carolina. Anthony Susnjara came off of the bench to tally 14 points, while Coggins added 11. On the boards, Robinson and Antonio Darden paced CCU with eight each.

Coastal Carolina will host Liberty University at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, while Radford will travel down the South Carolina coast to face Charleston Southern University on Monday at 7:00 p.m.