Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Radford's Chris McEachin (left) fights for possession of the basketball with VMI's Austin Kenon on Saturday afternoon.

Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Radford's Art Parakhouski, Cole Wilder, Jamar Jenkins and Aaron Austin celebrate the closing seconds of the Highlanders' win over VMI.

RADFORD -- It's probably good that Radford's men's basketball team won't have another game for almost two weeks.

VMI was tough enough on the Highlanders in the Big South Conference tournament final. Then, Radford's athletes had to survive their classmates.

Hugs, kisses, and pounded backs were all the rage as a mob charged the Dedmon Center floor to share in the revelry after the Highlanders whipped the Keydets 108-94 to earn the school's second trip to the NCAA tournament.

Radford last sent a team to compete in that grand event in 1998, a long wait. Hanging on another eight days to find out where they'll be bound shouldn't be a problem either.

The conference's top two seeds met in the first all-Virginia final before an ear-splitting audience of 3,480. The two combined for a tournament-record 202 points. Radford had to rally from a 13-0 deficit to open the game.

"VMI gave us basically their best shot at the beginning of the game," said Radford guard Kenny Thomas, one of the three all-tournament selections for the Highlanders. The other two were Joey Lynch-Flohr and Art Parakhouski.

The 6-foot-11 Parakhouski stood far above the celebratory post-game masses, the flag of his native Belarus draped across his shoulders. His 26 points and 18 rebounds cemented his tournament MVP selection

"Coach told us that we should dominate in the paint," Parakhouski said. "We know they play mostly guards. We know we have to dominate in the paint to win this game."

VMI (24-8) had no answer for him or the 6-8 Lynch-Flohr, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Highlanders pounded the smaller Keydets 57-31 on the backboards.

"They just ate us up inside," said VMI coach Duggar Baucom, who hopes his team will still earn a postseason tournament invitation of some sort.

It was a possible last game for VMI's terrific twins, Chavis and Travis Holmes. Chavis finished with a team-high 21 points. Travis struggled (3-for-11 shooting) but ended with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

VMI has lost in the tournament final twice in the last three years, the first time to Winthrop on the Eagles' floor.

"That's just the way the ball bounces," said Chavis Holmes. "We played two great teams. We fought hard [last time]; we fought hard today."

Six players scored in double figures for Radford, which shot 55.7 percent for the game. Thomas shook off a slow start to score 15 points and grab 10 rebounds. Point guard Amir Johnson had 16 points and seven rebounds but also six of Radford's 27 turnovers.

"We had 27 turnovers and scored 108 points," Radford coach Brad Greenberg said. "I don't know how you do that."

Four Radford players finished with four fouls but none were disqualified. A total of 51 fouls were called and 64 foul shots taken.

Johnson who has played virtually every minute of every big game Radford's had this year, missed eight minutes of this one as he sat with four fouls. Enter Chris McEachin, who came through with 18 points, 15 in the second half -- and had five of the 10 shots blocked by the Highlanders.

"McEachin was unbelievable," Baucom said.

Eric Hall spelled the big guys for Radford and had another in what is a growing series of solid performances. He had 10 points, five rebounds, and two blocks in 11 minutes.

VMI had a surprise star of its own in Austin Kenon, who scored 24 of his career-high 30 in the first half. He had a finals record with eight triples.

"He kept us in the game in the first half," Baucom said.

VMI's up-tempo attack can devastate late-reacting teams, creating double-digit deficits in no time. That's what the Keydets did when they ran off the first 13 points of this game in 1 minute 58 seconds. But just as quickly, the surge fizzled.

"We lost focus," Chavis Holmes said.

Lynch-Flohr scored Radford's first five points. Johnson and McEachin then had treys on back-to-back possessions and that seemed to get the Highlanders going.

The lead changed hands five times in the first half and four in the second, but Radford eventually took control.

"We never got a flurry, really," Baucom said. "You saw the flurry in the first two minutes. We scored 13 points in the first two minutes and that's how we're supposed to play. With the exception of that, we never really got a flurry."

VMI (24-8)

Bell 3-6 2-2 9, C.Holmes 6-12 7-8 21, Kenon 11-23 4-4 34, Burks 0-3 0-2 0, T.Holmes 3-11 5-7 12, Lonon 0-1 2-2 2, Gabriel 4-12 0-0 11, Sparks 2-8 0-0 5, Houston 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-76 20-25 94.

RADFORD (21-11)

Johnson 5-10 4-4 16, Thomas 4-10 7-13 15, Martin 3-5 0-0 6, Lynch-Flohr 7-10 3-3 17, Parakhouski 11-16 4-8 26, McEachin 4-13 9-11 18, Wilder 0-0 0-0 0, Hall 5-6 0-0 10. Totals 39-70 27-39 108.

Halftime--Radford 50-46. 3-Point Goals--VMI 16-50 (Kenon 8-19, Gabriel 3-9, C.Holmes 2-7, Bell 1-2, T.Holmes 1-4, Sparks 1-6, Burks 0-3), Radford 3-8 (Johnson 2-3, McEachin 1-1, Martin 0-1, Thomas 0-3). Fouled Out--Bell. Rebounds--VMI 31 (T.Holmes 10), Radford 57 (Parakhouski 18). Assists--VMI 13 (T.Holmes 4), Radford 14 (Thomas 6). Total Fouls--VMI 29, Radford 22. A--3,480.