Whit Holcomb-Faye hit a running 55-footer as time expired in overtime to lift Radford to a wild 85-83 win over High Point Saturday night at the Dedmon Center in Radford.
Jerry Echenique had given the Panthers an 83-82 lead on a short jumper with 2.6 seconds left before Holcomb-Faye's desperation shot from before the midcourt circle bounced off the front rim up into the air and through the hoop.
Radford (8-9, 3-3 Big South) rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit in the final five minutes to force overtime. The Panthers dropped to 9-10 (4-2 in the Conference).
High Point is 6-3 in its last nine games, with the three losses coming by a total of five points.
Echenique led HPU with 18 points. Mark Wilson added 16 points, while Danny Gathings recorded his 25th-career double-double (15 points, 13 boards).
Olumuyiwa Popoola scored 21 points to lead the Highlanders, who broke a five-game losing streak to High Point. Holcomb-Faye added 19 points and Chris Oliver tossed in 17 points. Josh Fox scored 11 of his 14 points in the final three minutes.
Radford led by as many as five points early before the Panthers heated up and used a 23-9 run which featured six straight points from Gathings and a three by White for a 25-16 lead.
But the Highlanders fought back to surge back in front following three-pointers by Fox, Popoola and Whit Holcomb-Faye for a 34-31 cushion with 2:32 to play before halftime. RU shot 50 percent from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.
HPU would rally to score the final four points of the half and trot into the locker room with a 39-38 halftime advantage following a driving Landon Quick layup with five seconds to go.
Radford re-took the lead on back-to-back jumpers by Oliver, the latter a trey to push the Highlanders in front, 45-43, with 15:06 left in regulation. RU would lead 48-45 before the Panthers ran off 10 straight points to surge ahead 55-48 when Echenique found a streaking Wilson for a layup at the 10:29 mark.
Holcomb-Faye brought the Highs back within 56-53 after a jump shot and a pair of free throws before the Panthers went on a 9-2 run to tie their biggest lead at 64-55 on an Echenique layup with 5:06 left before RU mounted the comeback.
Radford pulled within one at 68-67 on a Fox three before Titus Byrd drained a big three-pointer with 49.8 seconds left to push HPU back up 71-67. The teams traded free throws before Holcomb-Faye drove for a layup with 23.9 to go in the second half to pull within 72-70.
Akeem Scott was fouled and made one-of-two foul shots for a 73-70 High Point advantage before Fox nailed a wide-open trey with 6.8 seconds left to knot the score at 73-73. Gathings' 18-footer with one second left in regulation bounced off the backboard and rim, sending the game to overtime.
RU scored the first five points of the extra period before Wilson single-handedly led the Panthers back. He scored eight of his 16 points in the OT, the last on a long-range bomb with 59.6 seconds left to give HPU an 81-80 lead. The Highlanders missed two shots on the other end but came up with a pair of huge offensive boards to lead to a 10-foot jumper by Holcomb-Faye which gave RU an 82-81 lead with 10.8 seconds to play.
Echenique tossed in a floater on the other end with 2.6 seconds left before Holcomb-Faye's desperation heave dropped through and set off a delirious celebration in the Dedmon Center.
The Panthers return home to face VMI on Wednesday and meet Winthrop next Saturday (in a game to be televised regonally by C-SET) in the Millis Center. Both games tip at 7:00 pm.
Game notes for the HPU/VMI game are available by clicking the link below.
