RADFORD, Va. - Center Art Parakhouski scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Radford to a 109-91 win over VMI Thursday night at the Dedmon Center.
VMI was led by freshman forward Stan Okoye who produced his third consecutive double-double game with a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds.
The Keydets dropped to 5-12 overall and 1-7 in the Big South Conference. The Highlanders now stand 10-7 overall and 6-2 in the league.
VMI battled throughout the night but could not answer all of Radford's inside weapons.
Redshirt junior forward Lazar Trifunovic scored 25 of his 27 points after halftime and finished with 14 rebounds and eight assists while senior Joey Lynch-Flohr added 17 points and 10 rebounds to give the Highlanders a trio of double-double performers on the night.
The Keydets placed four in double figures scoring. Backing up Okoye's 23-point effort were sophomore guard Keith Gabriel (16), junior forward Hunter Houston with (15) and sophomore guard Ron Burks (15). Junior guard Austin Kenon added eight points and led VMI in scoring with seven assists.
The Highlanders held a 49-36 advantage on the boards and shot 61% in the second half to finish at 57.7% for the game. Radford held a 64-34 advantage in points in the paint and blocked 10 shots.
VMI hit 12 three-pointers for the game and shot 36.4% behind the arc.
Neither team was sharp at the free throw line - both squads shooting below 60%. Radford connected on just 13 of 25 (52%) from the stripe while VMI hit 13 of 22 (42.3%) from the line.
The Keydets held one lead in the contest, a brief 1-0 advantage after Burks converted a free throw at the 19:26 mark. A Parakhouski jumper followed seconds later to put the Highlanders ahead for good. Parakhouski scored seven of his team's first seven points and nailed another jumper at the 11:12 mark to give Radford its first double-digit lead of the night, 25-15.
The Highlanders maintained a double-digit cushion throughout most of the remainder of the first half, holding two leads as large as 16 points, the later coming with :53 remaining before intermission when Parakhouski hit a free throw to put RU ahead, 52-36.
VMI trailed by that count opening the second half, but wouldn't let the Highlanders put the game away despite Trifunovic's scoring spree. The native of Istanbul, Turkey scored 14 of his team's first 21 points of the second half and nailed a layup at the 13:51 mark to give the Highlanders a 24-point cushion.
VMI rallied with a 13-4 run to trim the deficit to 12 following Okoye's layup with 8:50 left and again trailed by a dozen (81-69) when Burks knocked down a layup before the under-8:00 media timeout. That would be the closest VMI could draw as Radford responding with a kick finish of layups and inside jumpers to close the door on their guests.
The Highlanders responded with a 13-4 to push their lead back to the 20-point range for the rest of the half until the game's final seconds. A Trifunovic jumper with 2:56 in regulation gave Radford its largest margin of the night, 28 points, at 107-79.
VMI will continue its two-game conference road swing Saturday night when it travels to High Point University to face the Panthers at the Millis Center at 7 p.m.
VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom
"Our guys competed and played hard. They didn't always play smart and we had a couple of careless turnovers, but I'm proud of the guys. We got it to 12 and we were right there. They came back to shoot four free throws (two on technical) which changed the completion of the game, but I certainly commend my guys on how hard they play."
"Stan (Okoye) is a warrior. He gets better and better. He did it against the preseason player of the year tonight. I'm very proud of him for fighting through and making plays."
"Ron Burks played hard and rebounded and played well defensively. He's a tough kid - I had been on him a lot to play better and tonight I thought he responded."
"Radford has a lot of weapons. I thought early on we had great energy and we didn't let them make post entries and Stan blocked a couple and Steve (Sargent) and Keith (Gabriel) blocked some. Then when you don't make shots, your defense begins to wane a bit."
"I really commend Hunter Houston for coming off the bench and playing the way he did."
