Shuler hits key FTs as Charleston Southern upsets Radford
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Dontrell Shuler — a 61 percent free-throw shooter — made both ends of a one-and-one with 17.8 seconds on the clock and Charleston Southern upended Big South Conference leader Radford 53-52 Saturday night.
Shuler scored five of his eight points and had a steal in the final 2:22 as Charleston Southern rallied from five points down. Christian Keeling led the Buccaneers (12-13, 6-6) with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Nate Louis added 13 points with four 3-pointers and Travis McConico tossed in 12 points with eight boards.
Radford, (18-8, 10-2) which started conference play on an eight-game win streak, has now lost twice in five games. Both losses were by one point and two of the intervening three wins were decided by three points, both in overtime.
Still leading 52-51 in the last 1:25, Radford's Ed Polite Jr. missed the front end of a one-and-one. Polite snared the offensive rebound but the Highlanders missed a 3-pointer and, after another Polite rebound, had a drive to the hoop stolen by Shuler.
The Highlanders had two chances in the last 17.8 seconds but a Polite drive bounced off the rim, and Caleb Tanner's desperate 3-point try at the buzzer went wide.
Polite scored 15 points with 15 rebounds —his 38th career double-double — for Radford, Carlik Jones added 12 points, nine boards and eight assists. Polite took over first place on Radford's career rebounding list with 1,067, passing Javonte Green's (2011-15) 1,064.
