Radford's Art Parakhouski (45) swats away a shot by UNC Asheville's John Williams in Thursday's game.

JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Radford's Chris McEachin (right) scores two of his 10 points as UNC Asheville's J.P. Primm attempts to defend during Thursday's Big South tournament semifinal at the Dedmon Center.

RADFORD -- Radford University's basketball success has been built this year in large part on the broad shoulders of two large men.

Yet with 2 minutes 55 seconds left in the Big South Conference tournament semifinals, there sat Highlanders post Joey Lynch-Flohr, already fouled out, immediately to be joined by fellow big man Art Parakhouski, also disqualified by fouls.

"It was go time in my mind," Radford's Kenny Thomas said. "The trigger went off."

UNC Asheville kept coming with some of the deadliest outside shooting ever seen in this tournament. Somehow, the top-seeded Highlanders held the Bulldogs off.

Radford sank eight of its final 11 free throws in the last 2:29 to preserve a 94-86 victory good for a berth opposite VMI in Saturday's 4 p.m. final at the Dedmon Center.

The second-seeded Keydets stopped Liberty 78-58 in the first semifinal.

A near-capacity gallery of 3,669 was in attendance.

The tournament winner earns the league's bid to NCAA tournament. VMI has never won the Big South; Radford has won it just once. It will be the first all-Virginia final in tournament history.

The Bulldogs (15-16) gave it everything they had and as much as Radford could ever want.

The No. 4 seed sank 11 of 15 triples in the second half, 13-for-18 for the game to scare the daylights out of the host team and its legion of loud-mouth fans.

"It was quite an entertaining game," Radford coach Brad Greenberg said. "Hats off to Asheville for the shooting display in the second half. That was just remarkable. I was yelling and screaming at our guys not to let them get 3s, but a couple of them was far out -- I don't know what's the next town over, Dublin?"

The Highlanders turned to Thomas and point guard Amir Johnson, who was playing with four fouls himself, to pull them through. Thomas, one of three seniors on the team, had a career-high 35 points in 40 minutes, making 10 of 18 field goals and 10 of 11 foul shots.

It was a semifinal record for scoring and tied the overall mark.

The 94 points by a team was a semifinal record as well.

Radford (19-11) led by as many as 15 points in the second half.

"What looked like a lead that was going to be safe wasn't," Greenberg said. "Kenny was out of this world tonight."

"I had no choice but to leave it all on the floor," Thomas said. "The guys I had with me were just awesome. They put it all on the floor, man, and we just like rallied together."

Sean Smith and Matt Dickey went a combined 8-for-11 from distance for UNCA, Smith finishing with 21 points and Dickey 14.

"They shot real well," Johnson said., "But they couldn't outshoot Kenny tonight."

Johnson had eight points, eight assists, and four rebounds.

Lynch-Flohr had 14 to go with seven rebounds, Parakhouski, the conference player of the year, struggled with his shooting, going 3-for-10, but had 13 rebounds to go with nine points.

N.C.-ASHEVILLE (15-16)

Dickey 5-11 0-0 14, Smith 5-14 7-8 21, Augst 5-12 1-3 12, Williams 5-14 3-5 13, Ridenhour 2-2 0-0 6, Stephenson 2-4 4-6 9, Primm 2-4 2-3 7, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Stubbs 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 28-66 17-25 86.

RADFORD (20-11)

Johnson 1-3 5-6 8, Thomas 10-18 10-11 35, Martin 2-5 4-4 9, Lynch-Flohr 6-10 2-3 14, Parakhouski 3-10 3-6 9, McEachin 5-9 0-2 10, Wilder 1-1 1-1 3, Hall 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 31-61 25-33 94.

Halftime--Radford 41-31. 3-Point Goals--N.C.-Asheville 13-18 (Dickey 4-5, Smith 4-6, Ridenhour 2-2, Augst 1-1, Stephenson 1-1, Primm 1-3), Radford 7-14 (Thomas 5-8, Johnson 1-2, Martin 1-2, McEachin 0-2). Fouled Out--Augst, Lynch-Flohr, Parakhouski. Rebounds--N.C.-Asheville 35 (Dickey 6), Radford 42 (Parakhouski 13). Assists--N.C.-Asheville 18 (Primm 5), Radford 22 (Johnson 8). Total Fouls--N.C.-Asheville 26, Radford 25. Technicals--Ridenhour, Martin. A--3,669.