Hampton Pirates Storm Past Radford In The Second Half

HAMPTON, Virginia  -- The Hampton University men's basketball team used a strong second half on Saturday to run away from Radford, pulling away to an 87-60 win at the HU Convocation Center.

The Pirates (7-7) have won five of their last seven games.

Sophomore guard Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.) led the Pirates with 18 points and six assists, while senior forward Du'Vaughn Maxwell (Manhattan, N.Y.) added 16 points and four rebounds. Junior center Emmanuel Okoroba (Garland, Texas) came off the bench to add 13 points and five rebounds.

Sophomore guard Dwight Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) added 10 points off the bench.

After Radford took an early 4-2 lead, the Pirates scored nine of the next 11 points to take an 11-6 lead at the 16:07 mark after a layup from Maxwell. A layup from redshirt-freshman guard Lawrence Cooks (Charlotte, N.C.) with 10:34 left in the half put Hampton up 18-11.

But Radford answered with nine straight points to take a 20-18 lead at the 9:01 mark, before Darden hit a trey with 8:42 left in the half to give the Pirates a 21-20 lead. That basket kicked off a 10-3 Hampton run, and the Pirates led 28-23 with 5:24 left in the half after a Maxwell layup.

Radford cut the lead to 28-26, but the Pirates closed the half on a 7-3 spurt to take a 35-29 lead into the locker room. Maxwell had 12 points to lead the Pirates at the break.

The Highlanders cut Hampton's lead to 43-38 with 16:49 left in the first half, but the Pirates answered with a half-defining – and game-defining – run.

Maxwell hit a jumper in the lane to give the Pirates a 50-40 lead with 12:59 left in the second half, capping off a 7-2 run. Sophomore guard Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.) later added a tip-in at the 12:10 mark to put Hampton up 52-40.

Senior guard Ramon Mercado (Hollywood, Fla.) extended Hampton's run to 12-2 – and the lead to 55-40 – with a corner trey with 11:35 left in the second half.

Meikle gave the Pirates a 58-40 lead – and extended Hampton's run to 15-2 – when his floater with 10:47 left was tipped by a defender on the way down for a goaltending call.

When Meikle stuffed home a two-handed dunk with 8:56 to go, it gave the Pirates a 62-41 lead and capped off what ultimately turned into a 19-3 run.

Through it all, Radford went from the 15:18 mark to the 8:16 mark without a field goal.

Powers hit a pair of free throws with 5:34 left to give the Pirates a 70-49 lead, and Brown followed suit at the charity stripe with 5:10 left to give Hampton up 72-51. Radford answered on the other end, before Maxwell hit a layup with 4:42 left to give the Pirates a 74-53 lead.

Powers hit a pair of free throws with 2:52 left to give the Pirates a 79-56 lead, before Meikle added a 3-pointer at the 2:31 mark to put Hampton up 82-56 – and Powers added two more free throws with 2:05 left to give Hampton an 84-56 lead.

The Pirates shot 53.4 percent (31-for-58) from the floor and hit five of their 11 3-pointers (45.5 percent). Hampton went 20-for-38 (52.6 percent) from the free throw line, but the Pirates turned 17 Radford turnovers into 15 points.

Radford (10-5) shot just 33.3 percent (19-for-57) from the floor and made four of 14 3-pointers. The Highlanders only went 18-for-37 (48.6 percent) from the free throw line, but Radford held a 46-39 edge on the glass.

Ya Ya Anderson led Radford with 13 points.

The Pirates will hit the road on Tuesday, heading to Durham, N.C. for a non-conference tilt against North Carolina Central at 7 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.

Box Score

COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION