RaeQuan Battle’s West Virginia debut was spoiled by a hanging jumper in the dying seconds, as DaQuan Smith’s late basket gave Radford a 66-65 win over the Mountaineers on Wednesday night in Morgantown, W.Va.
After trailing for most of the final 10 minutes of the game, the Highlanders (10-4) cut a five-point deficit down to one for a chance to win the contest. Bryan Antoine missed a free throw with 11 seconds remaining to potentially tie the game, but Smith nailed a 16-footer with just 1.5 seconds left on the clock to be the hero.
Radford extended its winning streak to five games with the victory.
Smith carried his team in the second half, scoring 15 points in the final 20 minutes to end up with 18 in the game. Justin Archer and Kenyon Giles each scored 12 points.
The win was extra special for Radford’s Darris Nichols, as it marked the first time he beat his former team as a head coach. Nichols was a guard at West Virginia from 2004-08.
The Mountaineers (4-7) have dropped back-to-back games for the third time this season.
It was Battle’s first game with West Virginia after a ruling last week that prevents the NCAA from enforcing its transfer rules. He then battled the flu, forcing him to miss Saturday’s game against UMass. On Wednesday, he led all scorers with 29 points.
Noah Farrakhan was the only other West Virginia player to score in double figures, netting 16 points.
In what was a back-and-forth opening half, West Virginia was up 14-11 with 10:17 left until halftime. However, Radford turned the game in its favor with just over nine minutes remaining to grab the lead for the first time at 15-14. Neither team managed to go up by more than three for the remainder of the period, with the Highlanders taking a 29-28 edge into intermission.
–Field Level Media