MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Radford's Art Parakhouski celebrates after scoring two points in the second half. Parakhouski finished with 24 points.

Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Charleston Southern's Jeremy Sexton drives past the defense of Art Parakhouski (left) and Amir Johnson (right), of Radford, during the second half. Sexton scored 18 points, but missed a crucial layup with his team down two points.

Radford coach Brad Greenberg reacts to a play in the first half of the Big South Conference tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday at Radford.

RADFORD -- So how many times can you tempt cardiac failure?

Radford University's basketball team may soon find out.

The Highlanders squandered an 18-point lead and allowed Charleston Southern to scramble back and force its second Dedmon Center overtime in 19 days before settling down just enough to pull away in the bonus period.

Radford was thus able to claim a 64-61 victory that sends it to Thursday's semifinals of the Big South Conference tournament at Coastal Carolina's gymnasium.

Four different Radford players scored in overtime before the Buccaneers' Jamarco Warren's last-second heave for three points and the tie went awry.

Radford (19-11), the defending tournament champ and this year's second seed, next plays No. 3 Winthrop, an 80-73 winner over Liberty, at 6 p.m. Thursday in the first game of the semifinal doubleheader. Top-seed Coastal beat VMI 82-73 to earn its invitation to the semis. It will play UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs beat visiting High Point 84-73.

Radford was cruising after taking a 16-point halftime lead. The Highlanders held the Buccaneers (13-17) to 30.4 percent first-half shooting while shooting a brisk 13-for-23 themselves. The second half was another story.

"The basket got bigger for them and smaller for us," Radford coach Brad Greenberg said.

The bucket must have looked like a thimble after Radford took a 61-55 overtime lead. With 1:17 left and in the last 57.4 seconds, senior point guard Amir Johnson and then twice freshman Blake Smith missed the front ends of one-and-ones. Charleston Southern, which lost 61-58 in overtime here on Feb. 11, subsequently scored six points in 29.5 seconds before Warren, who had had a tough evening, sank the team's last shot to make it 63-31 with 30.5 showing.

Two-time conference player of the year Art Parakhouski of Radford sank the first of two foul shots to give his team the final margin with 5.4 seconds left and set the stage for Warren's last ill-fated try for a triple to tie and a second overtime.

"We represented our university well tonight," Buccaneers coach Barclay Radebaugh said. "I'm very, very proud of their effort. I'm proud of their resiliency and toughness and their willingness to compete and not even come close to giving in at any point."

Radford won its fifth in a row and for the eighth time in its last nine games. The stress of this one was apparent in the postgame remarks of some of the players.

Joey Lynch-Flohr, a senior and one of the team's most experienced players said he was "scared, terrified. I didn't want it to end. The game can't go fast enough when you're up or slow enough when you're tied or down. You're just scared."

Lynch-Flohr did his part with 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Highlanders dominated the backboards 44-34. Another dominant performance came from Parakhouski, whose 24 points and 13 rebounds were his 25th double-double of the season. He sat for three minutes total, Lynch-Flohr for two. Laz Trifunovic added 14 points and six caroms for the winners.

Nobody had to work any harder than Johnson, who staged an epic duel with all-conference guard Warren. Both guys played every minute. Johnson had five points and nine assists with only two of Radford's 15 turnovers. The real job was hawking Warren, who went scoreless in the first half before contributing 10 points on 4-for-19 shooting including 0-for-8 from distance. Charleston Southern went 1-for-14 from deep.

"He's a good player," Johnson said. "He crafty, he's fast, he has all the moves. I wanted to keep my hand up for every shot he took."

Jeremy Sexton, a freshman, had another battle going with fellow freshman Smith. Sexton finished with 18 points but couldn't make the layup his team needed the most.

Down two, the Bucs ran a play for Sexton to go one-on-one with Smith.

"And he got right to the rim," Radebaugh said.

But somehow he missed and Parakhouski collected the rebound and was fouled for the last time.

"Art and Laz came over," Lynch-Flohr said of that final play. "It was good defense, but we caught a little break there."

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (13-17)

Martin 7-14 1-3 15, Mitchell 5-7 0-0 10, Blackmon 0-3 2-2 2, Warren 4-19 2-2 10, Sexton 7-15 3-4 18, Goods 1-2 0-0 2, Johnson 0-1 2-2 2, Lamb 0-1 0-0 0, Nwogbo 0-0 0-0 0, Shaughnessy 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-63 10-13 61.

RADFORD (19-11)

Trifunovic 7-18 0-0 14, Lynch-Flohr 6-11 2-3 14, Parakhouski 9-11 6-9 24, Johnson 2-7 0-1 5, Smith 2-6 2-4 7, Faulkner 0-1 0-0 0, Sonmez 0-1 0-0 0, Martin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 10-17 64.

Halftime--Radford 36-20. End Of Regulation--Tied 55. 3-Point Goals--Charleston Southern 1-14 (Sexton 1-5, Martin 0-1, Warren 0-8), Radford 2-9 (Smith 1-2, Johnson 1-5, Sonmez 0-1, Faulkner 0-1). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Charleston Southern 34 (Blackmon 9), Radford 44 (Parakhouski 13). Assists--Charleston Southern 9 (Mitchell, Warren 3), Radford 20 (Johnson 9). Total Fouls--Charleston Southern 17, Radford 11. A--1,384.