www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/231731Parakhouski, Highlanders win artistic success
Art Parakhouski scores 17 of Radford's final 26 points as the Highlanders win.
By Chuck Altizer | Special to The Roanoke Times
Photo courtesy of J. Brett Whitesell
Radford center Art Parakhouski scores two of his 31 points over UNC Asheville's D.J. Cunningham.
RADFORD -- UNC Asheville took their one and only lead at the 7:43 mark of the second half during its Big South contest with Radford at the Dedmon Center on Saturday afternoon.
That is when the Highlanders got busy with their artwork and Art Parakhouski responded, scoring 17 of the host's final 26 points as Radford defeated UNCA 82-74.
It was a six-minute stretch that saw the 6-foot-11 Belarus native net the 17 points, including five dunks, but it may have been the one assist that proved to be the biggest contribution as Radford (7-5, 3-0) outscored the Bulldogs 26-18 to close out the game.
Parakhouski took a feed on the block, drew a double team and passed the ball to a wide open Blake Smith, who drilled the 3 for his only points of the second half to give the Highlanders a 10-point lead.
The freshman finished the game with 10 points and six assists earning the trust of his All-Big South teammate.
"I know Blake is a great player and maybe the best shooter on the team," Parakhouski said. "When I caught the ball I saw Smith coming to me so I kicked it to him for a shot. I trust him and he made it."
Parakhouski finished the evening with 31 points on 12-of-13 shooting, while adding seven rebounds. It was the second straight game that the senior finished with more than 30 points and third time this season, a fact that Smith says allows the rest of the team to stuff the rest of the stat book.
"It makes it a lot easier for us," Smith said. "It is great to know that Art can do what he can do and all it does is rack up assists for us."
The end of the game run was the second big spurt for the Highlanders. Radford started the game on a 20-6 run in the first six minutes as UNCA (3-9, 1-1) continued their slow starts scoring six or less points in the first five minutes of the game for the seventh time this season in 12 contests.
The Highlanders built the lead to as many as 16 before the Bulldogs cut the lead to eight at the half.
UNCA rallied in the second half to tie the score at the 9:26 mark. Foul trouble by Parakhouski and Joey Lynch-Flohr helped contribute to the comeback but it was something that Radford coach Brad Greenberg expected out of UNCA.
"We told them this is conference stuff and Asheville plays 40 minutes," Greenberg said. "They don't give up and they are an aggressive team and they keep coming at you, so we knew it was going to be 40 minutes of competitive stuff.
"This was a big game for us to play against some pressure and get some experience with it, so that was good. We made some progress."
Lazar Trifunovic scored 15 points, while grabbing 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double in five games for the Highlanders.
UNCA placed five guys in double figures led by Matt Dickey with 15.