Radford Highlanders (4-11, 0-4 Big South) 62
UNC Asheville Bulldogs (6-9, 2-2 Big South) 94
ASHEVILLE, NC - The road through the Big South for the Radford Highlanders has officially become a nightmare as Coach Vance's club was throttled by 32 points playing away to UNC Asheville, their fourth conference loss in as many games, all by double digits. For a team that was a respectable 4-7 coming into league play against a brutal non-conference schedule, this is definitely not what the first year head coach had in mind.
The game was over almost as quickly as it started when down 3-2, UNC Asheville went on a 12-0 run and were never threatened again. By halftime the lead had already swollen to 49-26 as the Bulldogs shot 50% from the field and attempted 18 more free throws than Radford. With the 2nd half never in doubt, both teams simply played out the string to a one-sided result.
C.J. Birley was UNC Asheville's top scorer with 24 points, 7'7 monster Theo Bean had 12 points and 15 rebounds, Carl Hancock added 13 points, Paco Nardi scored 11 points, and Cantrell Carmichael finished with 10 points.
Bamba Sweetney did have an amazing game for Radford with 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists but no other starter tallied double figures for the Highlanders. Bench players Filiberto Bazin and Alan Gastel had 11 and 10 points respectively.
Firmly entrenched in the Big South basement, Radford will return home to face High Point (9-6, 2-2) who just cracked the Mid-Major Top 25 Poll at #17, giving the Big South two teams in that ranking along with #6 Winthrop. Another loss looks almost inevitable for the young Highlanders, but that's why they play the games. At least Coach Vance is telling his team that.
| Radford Highlanders at North Carolina-Asheville Bulldogs |
| Jan 23, 2008 | 1ST | 2ND | SCORE |
| Radford (4-11) | 26 | 36 | 62 |
| North Carolina-Asheville (6-9) | 49 | 45 | 94 |