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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

RU survives Wasp attack

Career marks tumble as the Highlanders get offensive against Division III Emory & Henry.

RADFORD -- Oxygen tanks and defibrillators were not required.

Radford University's well-rested Highlanders withstood hyper-offensive Emory & Henry to claim a 124-109 victory over the Division III gunslingers Monday night at the Dedmon Center.

Radford (5-10) had six players score in double figures, three canning 22 or more, and shot an astounding team-record 75.4 percent from the floor to snap a four-game losing streak.

The Wasps (4-4) scored 100 points for the eighth time this season but also yielded a C-note for the sixth.

Emory & Henry bounced back from way down to briefly take the lead in the second half, but Radford had too many athletes to be a shootout victim.

The combined scoring total was the most ever for a Radford game.

Kenny Thomas (32), Eric Hall (24), Alex Gynes (14), and Phillip Martin (10) all notched career scoring highs for Radford. Hall (13 rebounds) and Martell McDuffy (nine) set career rebounding highs with McDuffy falling just short of a triple double with 22 points and a game high 13 assists.

"These are the hardest types of team for us to play," said Gynes, a freshman from Australia. "We like a more structured game. They just keep running fresh legs in."

Emory & Henry, meanwhile, struggled with, of all things, scoring. The Wasps shot only 36 percent (36 of 100) from the floor. That included 29.1 percent from 3-point range. Still, 16 triples (out of 55 heaves) left the underdogs with a 48-9 bulge in scoring from afar.

"We came up here fully expecting to win this game," said Wasps wing Andrew Hart, a Pulaski County High product who scored nine of his 12 from beyond the arc. "We're pretty disappointed right now. "

Six players scored in double figures for the Wasps, Radford High graduate Camillo Weinz just short of the club with eight. Josh Cunningham, a freshman from William Byrd, canned five treys and shot 50 percent from 3-point range to finish with 15 points.

"We played terrible in the first half and we were still only down nine points at halftime," he said. "We were hoping for a better second half."

The first half was summed up depending on the perspective from which it was viewed. For the visitors, it was too many dunks surrendered. For Radford, it was to many possessions wasted.

The shocker of the first half headlines was the Highlanders' 18 turnovers, most of which occurred in the last 10 minutes before halftime. In the end, Radford had 33 turnovers, 17 more than Emory & Henry, and the same number of assists.

It didn't help the Highlanders' playmaking that first string point guard Amir Johnson was chilling down on the Highlanders' bench doing penance for an unspecified violation of team law.

The Wasps seemed to draw great energy from what essentially was an Emory & Henry home crowd. Each Wasps bucket and Radford flub was greeted with loud jubilation. Radford support, less its vacationing student body, was barely a peep.

Support didn't trump height and speed.

"Once we beat their press in the middle of the floor, we got down there and it was basically a dunkfest," Hall said.

EMORY & HENRY (4-4)

Huckins 7-11 4-6 18; Lee 7-16 0-4 16; Cunningham 5-10 0-0 15; Hart 3-14 3-4 12; Christian 3-8 3-4 11; Hudson 3-11 3-4 11; Dyson 4-9 1-3 10; Weinz 2-10 3-3 8; Leary 2-4 4-5 8; Rigney 0-1 0-0 0; Bland 0-2 0-0 0; Thomas 0-3 0-0 0; Stafford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 36-100 21-33 109.

RADFORD (5-10)

Thomas 12-13 6-8 32; Hall 11-14 2-4 24; McDuffy 6-10 9-11 22; Gynes 7-7 0-0 14; Lynch-Flohr 4-6 2-3 10; Martin 5-6 0-3 10; McEachin 1-3 3-5 5; McFarlin 2-2 0-0 4; Jenkins 1-2 0-0 2; Wilder 0-2 1-2 1; Ricks 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 49-65 23-38 124.

Halftime -- Radford 58-49. 3-point goals -- Emory & Henry 16-55 (Cunningham 5-10; Hart 3-12; Christian 2-3; Hudson 2-8; Lee 2-6; Dyson 1-5; Weinz 1-9; Rigney 0-1; Bland 0-1), Radford 3-5

(Thomas 2-2; McDuffy 1-1; McEachin 0-1; Jenkins 0-1). Fouled out -- Radford-Jenkins. Rebounds -- Emory & Henry 38 (Hudson 5), Radford 56 (Hall 13). Assists -- Emory & Henry 24 (Dyson 10), Radford 33 (McDuffy 13). Total fouls -- Emory & Henry 31, Radford 24. A -- 1253.

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