www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/230646Tribe 3s bury hosts
Radford misses several potential game-tying shots near the end.
By Ray Cox
381-1672
Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times
Radford's Art Parakhouski is hounded by a William & Mary defender at the Dedmon Center on Tuesday.
William & Mary's Quinn McDowell (20) and JohnMark Ludwick celebrate their victory.
RADFORD -- With family and friends gathered at the Dedmon Center to shepherd most of the members of William & Mary's basketball team home for Christmas after their visit to Radford on Tuesday night, it was a mostly empty team bus that headed back to Williamsburg.
On the other hand, there was nothing empty about the 3-point shooting totals in the Tribe scorebook after the tilt with the host Highlanders. William & Mary sharpshooters buried 15 of 35 triple attempts to hold off Radford 70-68. The visitors extended an eight-game winning streak, second-best ever there, while canning the second-most triples in a game in school history.
Radford, which fell to 14-32 against the current membership of the Colonial Athletic Association, had a couple of good looks at the bucket in the closing seconds but could not connect on a potential tying shot. Laz Trifunovic had a short shot after a drive into the lane go in and out, Art Parakhouski was too firm on the putback, and Joey Lynch-Flohr couldn't convert Radford's 29th offensive rebound with a last shot before time expired.
"Both teams played well," Tribe coach Tony Shaver said. "Somehow we found a way to win on the road and that's a great sign for our ballclub."
William & Mary, off to its best start since 1977-78, improved to 8-2 and figures to gain additional top-25 consideration next week. The Tribe has received votes in two of the national polls each of the past three weeks.
"They are a great team and their system is almost impossible to defend," Trifunovic said. "You have to be smart. We set some goals before the game that I don't think we accomplished, but despite that, I think we took a step forward."
It was a tough one to live with for Radford (5-4), which won the backboards by an overwhelming 43-30 margin, shot 45 percent for the game, and had twice as many assists (18) as turnovers.
"We did a lot of good things, a lot of good things," Radford coach Brad Greenberg said. "But they're a good team and they made enough 3s when it counted to get ahead and stay ahead."
Not included among Radford's aforementioned good deeds was throwing a net over David Schneider and Quinn McDowell, a combined 12-for-22 from long range. McDowell had a game and career-high 27 points and Schneider 20.
"We really wanted to help when they drove into the lane, but not over-help," Radford point guard Amir Johnson said. "But that's what we did a few times and they got a lot of open shots."
Art Parakhouski, Radford's 6-foot-11 center, took advantage of a decided team size advantage and scored 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting. Johnson added 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists, and Trifunovic 13 points and 14 rebounds.
The Highlanders were hurt by an inability to make it to the free throw line and convert. Radford took no first half foul shots and finished an unimpressive 7-for-14.
"We've had trouble shooting free throws through the whole season so far," said Trifunovic, 2-for-4 from the stripe. "I'm not sure how to fix it except to shoot more free throws. ... It's something that can't happen. We have to work on it."
The first half was exceptionally well-played for a couple ballclubs alleged to be rusty, the Tribe having played twice in 17 days and Radford once in nine days. The teams combined for eight turnovers total and each shot 50 percent (William & Mary from beyond the arc; Radford overall).
Best of all was the team ball: The Tribe had 12 assists on 13 baskets and Radford 11 feeds on 15 field goals.
William & Mary jumped out to a 13-2 lead before the Highlanders could gather their wits.
William & Mary is averaging 11.1 treys per game.
"That's our strong suit," said McDowell, a 6-6 sophomore. "For us, when we're knocking down 3s, we're at our best. "
WILLIAM & MARY (8-2)
Schneider 7-14 0-0 20, McDowell 10-17 1-1 27, Sumner 2-11 4-4 9, McCurdy 1-2 2-3 4, Kitts 1-2 0-4 2, Hess 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 2-2 2-4 8, Gaillard 0-2 0-0 0, Rum 0-0 0-0 0, Ludwick 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 9-16 70.
RADFORD (5-4)
Johnson 5-8 0-0 12, Trifunovic 5-12 2-4 13, Smith 2-7 0-0 5, Lynch-Flohr 3-16 2-3 8, Parakhouski 10-12 3-5 24, Faulkner 2-4 0-0 6, Sonmez 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 27-60 7-14 68.
Halftime--William & Mary 37-35. 3-Point Goals--William & Mary 15-35 (McDowell 6-10, Schneider 6-12, Brown 2-2, Sumner 1-6, McCurdy 0-1, Gaillard 0-1, Ludwick 0-3), Radford 7-16 (Faulkner 2-3, Johnson 2-4, Parakhouski 1-1, Trifunovic 1-3, Smith 1-4, Sonmez 0-1). Fouled Out--Johnson. Rebounds--William & Mary 30 (McCurdy 7), Radford 43 (Trifunovic 14). Assists--William & Mary 17 (Kitts, McCurdy 4), Radford 18 (Smith 7). Total Fouls--William & Mary 18, Radford 14. A--952.