Radford, VMI, Advance to Big South Finals

By: AP Sports | WSLS
Published: March 06, 2009

RADFORD, Va. (AP) - Kenny Thomas scored 35 points to lead
Radford to a 94-86 win over North Carolina-Asheville in the
semifinals of the Big South Conference tournament on Thursday
night.
The top-seeded Highlanders (20-11) advanced to play Virginia
Military Institute for the conference tournament title on Saturday.
Thomas was 10 of 18 from the field, including five 3-pointers,
and was 10 of 11 from the free-throw line to tie the single-game
conference scoring mark.
Fourth-seeded UNC-Asheville (15-16) cut the lead to 86-83 with
55 seconds left, but Radford scored the next six points for a 92-83
advantage with 27 seconds remaining.
Joey Lynch-Flohr scored 14, Chris McEachin added 10 points and
Artsiom Parakhouski had 13 rebounds for Radford.
Sean Smith scored 21, Matt Dickey had 14, John Williams added 13
and Reid Augst scored 12 points for the Bulldogs.
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RADFORD, Va. (AP) - Chavis Holmes scored 22 points and twin
Travis Holmes added 16 as Virginia Military Institute rallied to
defeat Liberty 78-58 Thursday night in the semifinals of the Big
South Conference tournament.
The second-seeded Keydets (24-7) trailed most of the first half
and 32-27 at the break. VMI pulled ahead with 15:06 to go on a
3-pointer by Chavis Holmes to make it 39-38, then used a 30-10 run
to lead by 21 with 5:43 left.
No. 3 seed Liberty (22-11) shot 30.3 percent in the second half
(10 of 33).
Kyle Ohman scored 16 points to pace the Flames, while freshman
Seth Curry had only 10. Curry, who scored 30 in the Flames'
quarterfinal win over Gardner-Webb, was 4 of 15 from the field and
1 of 8 from 3-point range.
The Keydets, who have won four straight, advance to Saturday's
championship game against top-seeded Radford.