RADFORD — Radford University’s basketball team was the guy who forgets to open his mail and leaves hundreds of dollars worth of refund checks to collect dust bunnies under the desk.
A fortune in missed shots were left uncashed when the Highlanders entertained UNC Asheville Thursday night in the subdued Dedmon Center.
Radford’s players can ponder the 12 missed foul shots and 19 clanged 3-point launches as they sort through the leftovers of a 77-67 Big South Conference loss to the Bulldogs.
UNC Asheville (6-13, 2-3 in the Big South) won for only the second time in 12 road contests this season. Radford (7-13, 2-3) had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Radford had chances to make a game of it late in the second half but continued shooting misfortunes scuttled any hope of a comeback.
For the game, Radford’s shooting accuracy was 35.9 percent, a figure plunged into the deep freeze largely thanks to 2-for-21 shooting from distance.
“What I told our kids, when you don’t make shots, you don’t put any pressure on the other team,” Radford coach Byron Samuels said.
As a visitor, any easing of the pressure of being far from home is welcome.
“In our league, what you have to do is win them all at home and then steal a couple — or three or four, or four or five — on the road,” said Bulldogs coach Eddie Biedenbach, 11 years at his post making him the league’s longest-tenured coach.
UNC Asheville led by as many as 23 points.
“We had open looks,’ Radford forward Chris Oliver said. “Nobody forced any offense. It was just one of those nights.”
For Oliver  and senior classmate Reggie McIntyre, one of those nights was another good one. Oliver had 20 points and 10 rebounds and four assists and McIntyre 13 points and a career-high 15 boards as the Highlanders outrebounded UNC Asheville 46-44.
Other players struggled mightily. Kenny Thomas scored 10 points but went 1-for-8 from distance.
“And he’s one of the best shooters in the Big South Conference,” Oliver said.
A big factor in Radford’s failed second-half comeback was poor free throw shooting. The Highlanders went 11-for-19 from the stripe in the second half and were 19-for-31 for the game.
“They’re a better shooting team than that,” Biedenbach said. “We got some breaks.”
Reid Augst scored 15 points to lead the Bulldogs but in Biedenbach’s view, the key player was only on the floor for 10 minutes total.
 The long and short of it began and ended with the long: 7-foot-7 Bulldogs center Kenny George. The stretched out sophomore from Chicago managed a scant 4 minutes on the floor in the first half, but during that time he collected four rebounds, blocked a couple of shots, and guarded the goal in the manner of a redwood tree with size-25 feet.
 McIntyre went up for one shot that George basically just pulled out of his hand. On another occasion, the 6-3 McIntyre was surrounded by George and two associates, who looked as though they had the undersized Highlander imprisoned in a very tall bird cage. One of Radford’s nine first half turnovers ensued.
Rebounding was of course difficult when the big fellow was deployed. There was no evidence that George left the floor for any of his quartet of caroms, but why bother? When you can touch the rim flat-footed, who needs to leap?
George had six points and six rebounds, but Biedenbach thought his contrbution went beyond that.
“It’s hard when Kenny George is in there because the shooters are thinking, we’re only going to get one shot,” Biedenbach said.