Ed Polite Jr. pumped in 16 points and 10 rebounds in Radford University’s loss Saturday to ACC’s Clemson.
The Radford University men’s basketball team took yet another ACC opponent down to the wire, but a wild second half and some tough calls resulted in a 74-66 defeat to Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday.
Redshirt sophomore guard Carlik Jones caused the Tigers a ton of trouble, pouring in 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting while adding five assists and three rebounds. Senior forward Ed Polite Jr. tallied his fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
As a team, the Highlanders shot an impressive 25-for-50 (50%) from the floor including an even more impressive 9-for-16 (56.3%) from beyond the arc. The problems came on the boards, where they were out-rebounded, 36-24.
Radford’s extremely difficult non-conference schedule is starting to show as the Highlander drop their third straight game and fall to 6-4 overall. Meanwhile, Clemson improves to 7-3 in its 2018-19 campaign.
The Highlanders had already gained a ton of confidence this season with two wins over Power 5 opponents and it showed immediately in Clemson. Through 20 minutes of action, Radford only trailed by one at 31-30 in a hostile environment.
Both teams started slow on the offensive end, going a combined 2-for-13 from the floor as they reached the first media timeout. Senior guard Tanner was the man to open the scoring, knocking down a three from the wing.
Clemson went ahead by six, but the Highlanders stayed disciplined on the defensive end and translated it into some much-needed scoring on the offensive end to take a 19-17 lead with 7:18 left in the period. A 3-pointer from Polite Jr. even had the Highlanders ahead with less than a minute to go, but the Tigers answered with a three of their own to take the lead into the break.
The second half began exactly how Coach Jones drew it up as Radford went on an 8-0 run to take a 38-33 lead. Defense continued to be the key to success as the Tigers were held scoreless from 19:23 to 15:12.
With the Highlanders leading 40-35 at the 14:14 mark, entire complexion of the game changed. Junior center Devonnte Holland was whistled for a personal foul on what looked to be a clean block. When he reacted to the call, he was hit with an extremely rare Flagrant 2 foul for “bad language” and was ejected from the game. Clemson subsequently scored six straight points to take back the lead.
It was a complete back-and-forth game from there and neither side was able to take a two-possession lead from 11:47 to 2:52, nearly nine minutes of action. It was Clemson who went ahead, 62-58, at that time and it would never lose the lead again.
Four Tigers finished in double figures including graduate guard Shelton Mitchell, who led all players with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Graduate forward David Skara (16), senior center Elijah Thomas (15) and sophomore guard Clyde Trapp Jr. (11) followed suit.
Radford may have entered the season favored to win the Big South conference, but it definitely wasn’t on the radar of many basketball fans around the country. That was until it defeated two Power 5 opponents in Notre Dame and Texas.
Now with the eyes of the nation on them, the Highlanders hung with Clemson for all 40 minutes. In total, there were 10 lead changes and 10 ties in the contest. Radford led by a game-high seven points at the 15:29 mark of the second half and held onto the lead for 13+ minutes of action.
Saturday’s contest marked the sixth time in 10 games this season that Polite Jr. has recorded both a block and a steal in the same game. For comparison, he pulled off the feat 15 times in 36 games last season.
Also of note is Polite Jr.’s place on Radford’s all-time career steals list. With his first half theft, the Lanham, Md. native moved into sole possession of 8th on the list, passing Chris Oliver (1989-92) who had 167. Next on the list is Rashun Davis (2012-16) with 170.
Junior guard Donald Hicks made his much-anticipated return to the floor on Saturday afternoon, coming off the bench at the 15:37 mark of the first half after missing the last three games with a calf injury.
Prior to his injury, Hicks had started 71 straight games for the Highlanders dating back to Nov. 20, 2016 at Akron. He finished with six points and two steals against Clemson.
“I thought we really held our own in the first half, but the second half was really the difference – especially the final six minutes. It seemed like every time we got a stop we couldn’t quite dig out the rebound, but to their credit they’re big, strong and physical. We just didn’t do a good enough job securing the ball as a team when we needed to and it showed in the end,” said coach Mike Jones.
–RU Athletics
