SPARTANBURG, S.C. – As the calendar flips to February and the back-half of the conference schedule, USC Upstate men's basketball cast aside its January results and captured a wire-to-wire victory Saturday as it avenged an earlier season loss with a 78-69 win inside the G.B. Hodge Center. The win, along with avenging the January 20 result, served as the first win for the Spartans over the Highlanders on their home floor, snapping an 0-4 skid in games played in Spartanburg.
 
Propelling Upstate to the lead—a lead it captured 1:14 into the game and wouldn't relinquish—sophomore guard Justin Bailey scored 11 of his 14 points in the opening period, drilling three of the team's six first-half three-pointers. He finished the night shooting 62.5 percent from the field and passing out a career-best four assists—setting a career-high for the third time over his past two games.
 
Pushing the Spartans' advantage to as many as 15 points, graduate student guard Nick Alves and redshirt junior guard Trae Broadnax dropped 14 and 10 markers, respectively, in the second half to join Bailey in double-figures Saturday. Alves supplemented his 14 points with seven rebounds while Broadnax added seven assists to his scoring total, passing out six-plus assists for the second straight game.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 78; Radford 69
Records: USC Upstate (7-15; 2-7 Big South); Radford (13-11; 3-6 Big South)
Location: G.B. Hodge Center | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
First Half

• After seeing both sides come up empty on their first possessions, Upstate opened the scoring as Justin Bailey knocked down the first of his three opening-half triples and the first of six for the Spartans in the half to deliver the early lead. Radford answered the score to pull within before Bailey nailed another trey to open a 6-0 scoring run to deliver a seven-point lead at the under-16 media timeout.
• Spanning a Highlander three, the Spartans fashioned a 14-3 scoring run to grow the lead to double-figures for the first time at +12 before Radford's next score. The second half of the stretch featured Upstate's longest scoring run of the first half, an 8-0 run with scores coming from Ahmir Langlais, Trae Broadnax, Patrick Iriel, and Bailey.
• Battling back from the first double-digit deficit of the night, Radford responded to Upstate's 8-0 with an 8-0 scoring run, using the three-ball to craft the run. Jalen Brezeale snapped the run with a three of his own before the Highlanders pushed their scoring stretch to a 14-3 run to pull within one at 20-19 with 6:57 to play in the period.
• Coming off the Highlanders' 6-0 run, the Spartans scored the next seven points as Iriel notched the first four points of the run before Broadnax hit a three to close the stretch. Upstate grew the advantage back to double-figures as the scoring run stretched to 13-4 before Radford closed the half on a 7-0 scoring run, cutting the lead to three in favor of the hosts at the break.

 
Second Half

• Continuing the momentum of their scoring run to close the first half, the Highlanders came out of the locker room to push their run to 9-0 as the lead trimmed to one for the final time with 19:39 to play. Upstate responded with a 14-2 scoring stretch, closing the stretch with the game's longest scoring run, an 11-0 scoring run with Broadnax scoring eight of the 11 markers in the run.
• Snapping the scoring run, Radford drilled a three to start a stretch of back-and-forth scoring heading into the second half's floating media timeout. The Spartans, however, held Radford without a field goal for over two-and-a-half minutes during the stretch, pushing the lead to its largest of the night at 15 points at the floating stoppage.
• Radford's stretch without a field goal extended to over four minutes as Upstate's lead hovered around the 11 to 14-point marks with the Highlanders' only scoring coming from the charity stripe—seven total points before the next made field goal. The Highlanders fought back to cut the lead to five with a 13-4 scoring stretch ending at the 6:29 mark.
• Beginning with 5:17 to play in the game, Upstate began putting away the game as it found its way to the free throw line, shooting 13 attempts, and going 10-for-13. Thanks to the charity stripe, the Spartans' lead never fell back to as few as five over the final five minutes of the game, extending to double-digits before settling at nine at the buzzer.

 
Notable

• Earning a split in the season series with Radford for the second straight season, Upstate captured its first victory over the Highlanders at the G.B. Hodge Center, snapping a four-game losing streak to Radford on its home floor.
• Winning wire-to-wire Saturday against the Highlanders, Upstate secured its second victory without trailing during the 2023-24 season, last doing so against Voorhees on Nov. 25, 2023. The victory marks the first wire-to-wire victory for the Spartans against a Division I foe since defeating Winthrop on Feb. 11, 2023.
• Each of the Spartans' three double-figure scorers notched a double-figure scoring half Saturday as Justin Bailey (11) earned his in the first half and Nick Alves (14) and Trae Broadnax (10) earned theirs in the second half. For Broadnax, it marked his team-leading 11^th double-figure scoring half while standing as Bailey's was his ninth and Alves' his fifth.
• Playing a career-high 20 minutes, Patrick Iriel finished the night tying his career-high scoring total, dropping eight points behind a 4-for-4 shooting performance. The performance marked the second time during league play he finished a game shooting 4-of-4 from the field and marked one of five games this year he finished the night perfect from the field while making multiple field goals.
• Hitting 11 threes against the Highlanders, Upstate improved its streak of consecutive games with at least one made-three pointer to 894 games, a streak dating back to the 1994-95 season. The stretch also includes each of the Spartans' 525 games at the NCAA Division I level (2007-pres.).

 
Up Next for the Spartans
As the league slate swings back to the rematch portion of the schedule, Upstate begins the second half of the conference campaign at the G.B. Hodge Center versus Radford. The Spartans look to avenge a 64-61 last-second loss to the Highlanders on Jan. 20 as things tip off Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
 
Donate to the I-26 Rivalry Canned Food Drive supporting Miracle Hill Ministries
Support USC Upstate Athletics and Miracle Hill Ministries by donating canned and non-perishable food items for the Ingles I-26 Rivalry Canned Food Drive through February 10. A competition between USC Upstate and UNC Asheville, the school collecting the most donations will win three bonus points in the yearlong rivalry series. For rivalry series details and donation drop-off locations, click here. Make your donations of three or more canned or non-perishable food items at the home basketball games on Feb. 7 and 10 and be entered to win USC Upstate gear, gift cards, and other prizes! Stop by the Ingles Marketing Tent in the lobby of the Hodge Center for more details.
 
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