Radford beats Gardner-Webb 70-66, still tied atop Big South

Feb 2, 2018, 03:08 am

RADFORD, Va. -- Ed Polite Jr. scored 22 points to lead Radford to a 70-66 victory over Gardner-Webb on Thursday night.

Radford (15-9, 8-3 Big South Conference) kept pace atop the conference standings with UNC Asheville, which beat Campbell 64-57. Gardner-Webb (11-13, 6-5) has lost three of its last four games.

The Bulldogs cut a 10-point deficit with five minutes left to 63-60 with 3:21 remaining. Radford stretched the lead to 66-60, but Jaheam Cornwall scored four points and Liam O'Reilly made a layup to pull Gardner-Webb to 67-66 with 42 seconds to go. Christian Bradford added two free throws for the Highlanders, and O'Reilly missed a 3 for the Bulldogs with 11 seconds left.

Polite made 8 of 13 field goals, and had nine rebounds and three steals. Randy Phillips added 11 points for Radford.

David Efianayi had 22 points and made all nine free-throw attempts for Gardner-Webb.