SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Less than 72 hours after a tough road loss, Dave Dickerson hoped to see the eye of the tiger from his USC Upstate team in preparation for its return matchup against Radford to begin the second circuit of Big South play.
One could say Dickerson was happy with what he saw Saturday.
“We had it,” Dickerson said matter-of-factly. “I saw the look in their eyes on Thursday and said I’m going to give them the day off, let them get some rest. On Friday, we came out and practiced. We were physical and had that eye of the tiger. We need to keep that, and we need to do a good job as a coaching staff in making sure that we can get what we need out of this team to be as good as we were tonight.”
The Spartans played one of their better games of the season, imposing their will from start to finish as they emerged with a wire-to-wire 78-69 victory over the Radford Highlanders.
Justin Bailey knocked down two shots from long distance for Upstate, kickstarting a sizzling 17-5 run over the first 7:19 of the game. During the flurry, the Spartans picked up a quartet of layups – one each by Jalen Breazeale, Trae Broadnax, Patrick Iriel, and Ahmir Langlais – and bookended the run with a Bailey jumper.
“This team is very capable of winning a lot of games,” Bailey stated. “Coach has harped on that and emphasized it the last couple of days, even in practices, warmups, shootarounds that we’ve had. We put it into action and are reaping the benefits by getting a win today. It feels good.”
Radford was held to two made field goals – a Truth Harris layup and Trenton Walters three-pointer – during that stretch. Two shots from behind the arc, one apiece from Chandler Turner and DaQuan Smith, helped the Highlanders cut the deficit down to one, 20-19, with just under seven minutes left in the opening half.
Upstate countered with four straight points by Iriel and a Broadnax three-pointer that rebuilt a three-score advantage. A Justin Archer bucket sparked a 7-0 Radford run over the last three-plus minutes of the half, trimming Upstate’s lead to 33-30 at halftime.
The Spartans came out firing to start the second stanza as Nick Alves buried a three-pointer that keyed a 21-9 run over the first eight minutes of the frame. Bailey drained a midrange jumper and Broadnax added two shots from close range. Eduardo Placer then canned a left-wing triple and fired a long pass ahead for a thunderous Jordyn Surratt slam dunk – all within a 70-second span – creating a 54-39 advantage with 12:08 to play.
“It was our unselfishness,” Broadnax answered when asked what helped the Spartans offensively. “We shared the ball and when everyone eats, we are a totally different team. We had 20 assists tonight, so when we can play that way, we are hard to guard and that helps us be locked on defense like we were and put it all together.”
Alves drilled another shot from distance for the Spartans just over a minute later, but the Highlanders battled back with an 11-1 run that featured five points from Bryan Antoine along with a Smith bucket that slashed the Upstate lead down to 58-54 at the 8-minute media timeout.
Placer and Miguel Ayesa answered, as each drained a shot from long range and extended the Spartan lead back out to double digits, 66-56, with just over four minutes left. After Radford cut the deficit down to 71-65, Langlais swished a hook shot and shortly thereafter, Broadnax dished to Alves for an emphatic two-handed jam with 52 seconds that put an exclamation mark on the win for the Spartans.
“That felt pretty good,” remarked Alves. “This was one of those games that we knew we could win. It was one that we needed and is the first of many. Coach always tells us that if we just stay the course and keep doing the right things, then eventually everything will pan out the way we want it to.”
Broadnax posted a team-high 19 points along with seven assists and six rebounds for the Spartans. Alves (14 points, seven rebounds) and Bailey (14 points, four assists) also finished in double figures. The Spartans made 27 out of 55 shots from the floor while recording 28 points in the paint and 21 points off the bench.
Smith scored a game-high 20 points for Radford, followed by Archer with a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Antoine with 10 points, respectively. The Highlanders compiled 28 points in the paint and 25 points off the bench, tallying 25 makes on 59 attempts from the field.
Upstate (7-15, 2-7) continues Big South play with a road trip to face Longwood on Wednesday. Radford (13-11, 3-6) will return to action at Presbyterian on Saturday, in a 4:30 PM tipoff.
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