Jack Vance's Coaching Life - CH2K8

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Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks (0-1) 73

Radford Highlanders (1-0) 80

RADFORD, VA - The Radford Highlanders kicked off their 2008-09 campaign with a hard fought win over Maryland-Eastern Shore by a score of 80-73. While Radford will gladly take the victory, it did not come as easy as expected, and Coach Vance expressed as much after the game saying, "I'm glad we won. We had a couple of guys step up big to get us the victory, but overall I'm not satisfied. We need to be better than this."

Radford was up early 9-7 when Maryland-Eastern Shore put together an 8-0 run to take a 6 point lead. The Highlanders responded though with an immediate 8-0 run of their own as the two teams jostled for an advantage. Eventually Radford would begin to pull away, and when Bamba Sweetney hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in the half, Radford went up 43-31 headed into the break.

Free throws were the key difference in the 1st half as Radford was able to get penetration on Maryland-Eastern Shore's defense forcing the Hawks to take many fouls. Radford shot 13/19 from the line in the opening stanza while Maryland-Eastern Shore was just 2/8.

Radford pushed their lead to as high as 49-31 in the 2nd half, and looked to run away with the game. Maryland-Eastern Shore had other ideas though and cut the lead to single digits at 56-47 by the 12:22 mark. The Hawks continued to cut away at the Highlanders lead and found themselves down just 67-65 and with the ball when a Guilherme Wheless 3-pointer for the lead went in and out. Marlyand-Eastern Shore never did pull ahead of Radford as the Highlanders still clinging to a 2 point lead at 72-70 got a basket inside from Thomas Coulter with 1:04 left and then sealed the game with free throws.

To help the Highlanders to victory, Harlan Bright, who averaged 6.8 points last year, exploded with 26 points on 6/9 shooting from 3-point range. Last season's leading scorer Bamba Sweetney also had 26 points along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while Adam Nevill had 6 points and 12 rebounds, and Moussa Reaser added 5 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks in his first game with Radford. For Maryland-Eastern Shore, Ije Cooper had 19 points, Oliver Barlow had 14 points and 19 rebounds, Gerardo Wente had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Guilherme Wheless had 13 points.

Now with their first win under their belt, Radford will next look to their matchup with Princeton out of the Ivy League. The Tigers were a solid 17-11 last season and will feature Kody Dux, a 3-star point guard out of Philadelphia who Radford recruited hard before he chose Princeton over the Highlanders.

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at Radford Highlanders
Nov 1, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Maryland-Eastern Shore (0-1)	31	42	73
Radford (1-0)	43	37	80

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Princeton Tigers (0-1) 55

Radford Highlanders (2-0) 65

RADFORD, VA - It's almost impossible to win a basketball game when you shoot 28% from the field, but despite such an atrocious offensive performance, Coach Jack Vance's Radford Highlanders managed to pull out a win against the Princeton Tigers, who only shot 30% from the field themselves, by a score of 65-55.

Like the Maryland-Eastern Shore game, Radford got off to a good start and built a nice lead as they were up 30-17 on Princeton before the Tigers closed the 1st half on a 7-0 run to make the margin 30-24 at halftime. The main story though was horrendous shooting as Radford went 11/36 (31%) from the field while Princeton was even worse at 8/27 (30%).

In the 2nd half the shooting woes for both sides continued, but Radford had built a 40-30 lead by the 16:46 mark. Princeton came storming back however and when Jacob Burke hit a 3-pointer with 5:06 left in the game, Princeton finally had a lead at 49-48. That's when Radford's Bamba Sweetney took over, going on a personal 8-0 run with two 3-pointers around a pair of made free throws, and at one point scoring 12 points in a row for the Highlanders. That surge was able to get Radford a lead they could salt away with free throws for a somewhat misleading 10 point margin of victory.

Sweetney did in fact lead all scorers with 29 points, but it was not an efficient performance as he accomplished that number on 10/27 FG. Harlan Bright was the only other Radford player in double-digits scoring 13 points. Jacob Burke and Donte Brittain each had 12 points for Princeton and W.M. Swoger registered 11 points and 17 rebounds. As for Kody Dux, the 3-star point guard Princeton beat out Coach Vance for this offseason, he had 3 points on 1/6 FG with 6 assists and 5 turnovers.

Up next for Radford is in-state rival Longwood (1-0) who is coming off a win against Cal State Northridge. If the Highlanders can knock off the Lancers, they will be carrying a 3-0 record to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam. That would certainly give Radford a lot of confidence in a tournament where they will see their level of competition stepped up.

Princeton Tigers at Radford Highlanders
Nov 7, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Princeton (0-1)	24	31	55
Radford (2-0)	30	35	65

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Longwood Lancers (1-1) 64

Radford Highlanders (3-0) 91

RADFORD, VA - Radford finally got the performance Coach Vance was looking for out of his team as the Highlanders smashed in-state rival Longwood by a score of 91-64 on the back of a 2nd half explosion that saw Radford outscore the Lancers by 22 points.

Radford's biggest lead of the 1st half was 8 points, but they would take a 5 point lead into the break at 38-33. Once again the Highlanders struggled from the field going 11/34 (32%). However, Radford has made significant improvement on defense since last year and held Longwood to 13/34 (38%). Combined with a free throw advantage of 14/18 for the Highlanders compared to 3/6 for the Lancers, Coach Vance's club was able to keep Longwood at arm's distance.

The Highlanders finally pushed the lead to double-digits at the 15:58 mark when a Bamba Sweetney 3-pointer put them ahead 58-47. Two Filiberto Bazin free throws at 8:09 then made the lead 20 points at 71-51. Radford's highest lead of the game was 29 points as the Highlanders used a hot shooting 2nd half to get them up to 41% (28/68) for the game.

Bamba Sweetney was great all around with 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Moussa Reaser also had a huge game with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks while Harlan Bright had 15 points and 6 assists, and Thomas Coulter and Filiberto Bazin each scored 11 points. Peter Grafs carried Longwood with 25 points and Filip Howell had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

This time last season Radford was 0-3. Now the Highlanders have turned that record to 3-0 as they head to the U.S. Virgin Islands to take on Cleveland State out of the Horizon League at the Paradise Jam. The Vikings enter the game at 1-0 after a big 73-51 win over Indiana State.

Longwood Lancers at Radford Highlanders
Nov 10, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Longwood (1-1)	33	31	64
Radford (3-0)	38	53	91

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2008 Paradise Jam Bracket

#8 Syracuse (1-0)

Quinnipiac (0-2)



Wichita State (1-0)

Kansas (0-1)





Cleveland State (1-0)

Radford (3-0)



Dayton (2-0)

Clemson (2-0)

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2008 Paradise Jam - Quarterfinals

Radford Highlanders (3-1) 66 OT

Cleveland State Vikings (2-0) 67

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - The Radford Highlanders know they threw one away (literally) in their opening game at the Paradise Jam as they held a 59-55 lead and had the ball with under 1 minute left in regulation, only to let Cleveland State force overtime where Radford came up just short 67-66.

In the 1st half Radford was riding high up 25-14 with 8 minutes left when leading scorer Bamba Sweetney got in foul trouble. Coach Vance's club was able to maintain though and had a 29-15 lead when a second starter, Moussa Reaser, went out with foul trouble at the 6:57 mark. Losing those two players finally allowed Cleveland State back into the game and by halftime Radford's lead had been cut to 35-27.

Cleveland State continued to move forward in the 2nd half and by the 14:25 mark the score was evened 37-37. The Vikings were unable to get over the hump though and could not grab the lead from the Highlanders who with the game again tied 46-46 went on a 7-0 run to take control. Cleveland State would again inch back however and cut the lead to 56-55 when Radford got a clutch 3 from Harlan Bright with only 49 seconds remaining. Up 59-55 and once again in possession for an inbound pass, all Radford needed to do was hit free throws to win the game. Instead, Bamba Sweetney threw away the inbound pass and Cleveland State hit a 3-pointer to make the score 59-58. Then Radford's Harlan Bright was fouled but only made 1 of 2 free throws leaving the door open for the Vikings at 60-58. Jamaar Blankson would take the ball and drive to the basket, getting fouled with 5 seconds left. He hit both free throws to tie the game 60-60 before a desperation Radford 3 missed to send the game into overtime.

The teams battled back and forth in overtime with Cleveland State eventually holding a 67-66 lead. Radford had the ball for the last shot though when a Thomas Coulter 3-pointer for the win clanged off the rim. However, Bamba Sweetney was under the basket and got the offensive rebound with 3 seconds left. He went up for the put back, but his close range shot rolled off the rim and left the Highlanders with a heartbreaking 1 point loss.

"We let that one slip away," Coach Vance said after the game. "If you don't execute fundamentals you can get burned. Our team just experienced that."

Bamba Sweetney led Radford players with 17 points and 7 rebounds, Harlan Bright had 12 points and 10 assists, Filiberto Bazin had 15 points, and Thomas Coulter had 14 points. Cleveland State got 14 points and 14 rebounds from Moses Peterson, Jamaar Blankson had 11 points and 18 rebounds, Marcel Blassingame had 12 points, and Nkeruwem Powe had 14 points.

With their first loss of the season, Radford goes into the losers bracket of the Paradise Jam and will face Dayton (2-1) who lost a close game 86-80 to Clemson.

Radford Highlanders at Cleveland State Vikings
Nov 14, 2008	1ST	2ND	OT	SCORE
Radford (3-1)	35	25	6	66
Cleveland State (2-0)	27	33	7	67

[MBFranchise]

Tough loss, but I am thinking the second year might be the charm

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Quote: Originally Posted by MBFranchise

Tough loss, but I am thinking the second year might be the charm

I sure hope so. I don't want to go through another year like last year.

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2008 Paradise Jam - Consolation Game

Dayton Flyers (3-1) 81

Radford Highlanders (3-2) 62

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - The Radford Highlanders were hoping to avenge their 67-66 overtime loss to Cleveland State in the Paradise Jam Quarterfinals against another team from Ohio, but it didn't work out that way. After hanging close with the Dayton Flyers for the 1st half, the Atlantic 10 club busted things open in the 2nd half and rolled to a 81-62 win over Coach Vance's team.

Despite only shooting 32% in the 1st half on 9/28 FG and being outscored in the paint 18-6, Radford only found themselves down to Dayton at halftime by a score of 34-29. It could have been even closer if not a Radford lead, but for the fact that the Highlanders only went 8/15 at the free throw line.

The 2nd half would not be as kind though as Radford was held scoreless for the first 4:10 of the second frame, and Dayton pushed the lead to 20 points at 65-45 by the 7:12 mark. As in the 1st half, Radford had no answer for the Flyers inside as Dayton finished the game with a 38-14 points in the paint advantage and shot 29/53 (53%) from the field.

Bamba Sweetney managed 24 points for Radford but only on 8/22 FG. Harlan Bright had 11 points and 7 assists. Joe Alleyne was Dayton's top scorer with 18 points, Carl Pena had 16 points, Logan Ravello had 13 points, and Jordi Geli Fearing had 11 points and 9 rebounds.

With 2 straight losses at the Paradise Jam, Radford will play one more consolation game before leaving the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Highlanders opponent will be Quinnipiac (0-4) out of the Northeast Conference who has lost to #8 Syracuse 101-53 and Wichita State 78-56. Coach Vance will be looking for something to take back to Virginia out of this trip, even if it didn't go as he wanted.

Dayton Flyers at Radford Highlanders
Nov 15, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Dayton (3-1)	34	47	81
Radford (3-2)	29	33	62