Polite Jr. scores 23 with 12 boards; Radford beats Winthrop

Jan 4, 2019, 11:43 am

RADFORD, Va. -- Ed Polite Jr. had 23 points, on 9-of-16 shooting, and 12 rebounds and Randy Phillips scored a career-high 15 points and also grabbed 12 boards to help Radford beat Winthrop 85-79 on Wednesday night.

Polite, who came in a career 18-percent shooter (9 of 51) from 3-point range, hit a career-best five 3s.

Christian Bradford finished with 12 points for Radford (9-6, 2-0 Big South). The Highlanders outrebounded Winthrop -- which came in leading the conference in rebounding (39.1 per game) -- 46-29.

The Eagles made four of their six field-goal attempts, including a 3-pointer by Anders Broman that trimmed their deficit to 12-11 nearly four minutes in, but missed their next seven shots and Radford used an 11-0 run to open a 12-point lead about four minutes later. The Highlanders pushed their lead to 53-31 at the break, their highest scoring half of the season, and led by double figures until the closing seconds.

Bjorn Broman hit seven 3s and finished with 29 points -- both career highs -- for Winthrop (7-6, 1-1).