Conway, South Carolina – The Longwood men’s basketball team will try and break a few barriers that they have failed to achieve until this part of the season; those being a win against Charleston Southern and continuing a win streak.
Longwood used a run late in the first half that stretched into the second where they hit eight-straight shots to overcome a 13 point deficit against the number 8-seed Presbyterian Blue Hose on Wednesday afternoon. After falling behind 29-16, junior guards Shaquille Johnson and Leron Fisher stepped up and guided the Lancers to a 15-6 run to cut the deficit to 35-31 at the half.
Johnson led all scorers with 25 points and hit 11 of 14 free throws as well as grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double, while Fisher added 16 points.
That win came off the heels of a season finale 70-65 victory over the eventual 10-seed Campbell University Fighting Camels. In that contest, the Lancers had to fend off a second half comeback after acquiring a 19-point halftime lead.
On Friday afternoon, Longwood will look to take down the top seed Charleston Southern Buccaneers for the first time this season after going 0-2 against the Bucs in the regular season.
“This is a great basketball team that is very well coached,” head coach Jayson Gee said about Charleston Southern. “Our goal is to find a way to win the basketball game.”
In that first matchup, Charleston Southern used some hot shooting from beyond the arc to run away from the Lancers in a 68-54 contest back on January 10 from the Buc Dome in Charleston. That game was when junior center Lotana Nwogbo injured his hand. Nwogbo has yet to see the floor since then.
“In that first matchup, they got out to a big lead, and that’s when we lost (Nwogbo) when he tore his ligaments in his hand,” Gee said.
The second matchup was a little different, but still had the same outcome.
The Buccaneers used a 30-10 run to open the game and were able to stave off a Longwood comeback and earn a hard-fought 65-64 win in Willett Hall. In that game, Longwood was able to keep the Big South Player of the Year, Saah Nimley to only five points but was unable to capitalize for the win.
“They came to our place and I thought we were really locked in,” Gee said on the second matchup. “We played them tough and really hard, we did a great job against Neely and lost by one point.”
The win on Wednesday afternoon was also just the second ever win in the Big South Conference Tournament in their first three seasons in the conference. Their first win came back in 2013 when the Lancers were able to knock off the defending champion UNC Asheville Bulldogs 87-75.
The matchup on Friday will be the first time the Lancers take on the number one seed during the tournament.
“Our guys will play with some confidence against these guys,” Gee said. “We’re facing a hunger that is just as strong as the scouting sheet and we’ve got to match that.”
The winner of this game will move on to the Semifinals to face the winner between Radford and Winthrop on Saturday at noon from the HTC Center.
