Rarely does the second game of any team’s season live on in the memories of that program’s fans and those directly associated with it. This one, however, will be remembered in Farmville for a very long time.
The LU men’s basketball team beat Texas Christian last night 82-79 in Fort Worth, Texas to score Jayson Gee his first win as Longwood’s head coach and the team’s first-ever win against a BCS-level opponent.
The Lancers (1-1) led by 13 at halftime. In the second, TCU grabbed the lead twice but never for very long, as crucial buckets by Jeylani Dublin, Tristan “TT” Carey and Karl Ziegler kept the game close throughout the final 10 minutes.
“Number one, I just think it's a great win for the Lancer Nation. I'm so stinking proud of our kids,” Gee said postgame. “I told our kids ... we knew they [TCU] were going make a run.”
Carey sank two free throws for his 30th and 31st points of the night and that gave the Lancers a 72-66 lead with 1:01 left. Brandon Parrish made a three with 19 seconds left to cut Longwood’s lead to 78-77, and Leron Fisher made a free throw upon being fouled a second later. TCU made two more of their own from the charity stripe after Damarion Geter fouled out with six seconds left.
Out of timeouts, LU had no choice but to sprint down the floor and take a shot, any shot. Woodhouse, who hadn’t made a shot from the field in three attempts, pulled up and nailed it with 1.3 seconds on the clock. The Horned Frogs couldn’t do anything with the time they had, and Longwood left Fort Worth with Win No. 1. Carey’s 31 points were a game-high, and Ziegler had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Woodhouse's three made the "Top 10 Plays" segment on ESPN's SportsCenter last night. The team’s next game is their home opener on Saturday at 5 p.m. against Division II Mars Hill.
The photo on page 1 is from Lancer Madness. The Rotunda did not have access to TCU photos at press time.
