BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Thomas Viglianco scored 21 points and Shema Mbyirukira added 20, leading Birmingham-Southern to a 61-59 victory Wednesday over Radford in the teams' Big South opener.
Viglianco shot eight of 12 from the field, hitting three of his five 3-point attempts. Mbyirukira hit eight of 11 shots for Panthers (8-4, 1-0), which never trailed.
Olumuyiwa Popoola led Radford (5-7, 0-1) with 15 points and Chris Oliver added 14 points. Reggie McIntyre had 12.
Mbyirukira hit two free throws with 16 seconds left to widen the margin 61-55. Popoola answered on a shot with 4 seconds left and stole the ball from the Panthers seconds later to make a layup with less than 1 second remaining to cut the final margin.
Birmingham-Southern never trailed and hit 39 percent of its first-half shots to take a 29-22 halftime lead. The Panthers, who hit 45 percent of their overall shots, kept Radford to 34 percent shooting.
