The Lancers may not have gotten a win at the Eastern Kentucky Hoops Classic this past weekend, but they did show signs of improvement.
Longwood fell to South Carolina State 83-77, Ball State 78-67 and Eastern Kentucky 110-97 over the three-day tournament, Nov. 20-22, after starting the season 2-0 against two Division III opponents at home.
Heading into the weekend, the biggest problem for the Lancers was the slow starts. They began sluggish in their first two games, causing a 35-32 halftime deficit to LaRoche College, a team that went 1-24 last season.
The Lancers scored 30, 31, and 43 points respectively in the first half of each tournament contest, including a lead at the break in Sunday’s contest and a one-point deficit on Friday. Redshirt senior center/forward Lotanna Nwogbo paced the Lancers over the weekend with a career-high 27 points and 15 rebounds against South Carolina State on Friday, Nov. 20, as well as 26 points on Sunday, Nov. 22 against Eastern Kentucky. Fellow redshirt senior Tra-Vaughn White joined Nwogbo, adding 21 on Sunday.
In Friday’s contest, Longwood gave away 14 turnovers that led to 20 points for the Bulldogs of South Carolina State. Junior forward Gabriel McCray led the Bulldogs with 23 points and went 9-of-13 from the floor, extending his double-digit scoring streak to three games.
"It's disappointing to come away with a loss," said Longwood men’s basketball head coach Jayson Gee on the Longwood official athletics website. "You look at our turnovers, and it says 14, which is not really a lot, but I thought too many of those were unforced. Our guard play wasn't as good as it needed to be, but I thought guys competed and fought hard."
Sophomore guard Kanayo Obi–Rapu Jr. also notched his third 20-point performance on Saturday with 21 on Saturday against Ball State, while redshirt sophomore forward Khris Lane added 18 points and nine boards.
Freshman guard/forward Chris Shields added nine points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Lancers.
"Kanayo (Obi-Rapu Jr.) stepped up, Khris Lane stepped up and they did a nice job," Gee said on the Longwood athletics official website. "I thought Chris Shields had his best game as a Lancer, and if we can get that kind of production from him throughout the course of the season, we're going to be in good shape.”
Gee added, “But we got beat on the boards way too much. That inability to get over that hump in the second half when you've fought back to get to where we wanted to be is discouraging.”
In the Sunday finale against the hosting Colonels, the Lancers had a 43-42 lead at the half as well as a 78-76 lead with 7:15 to play before Eastern Kentucky went on a 34-18 to close out the game. During that stretch, the Colonels hit 11 of the final 12 shots and scored on 15 of their final 16 possessions.
Senior guard/forward Jarelle Reischel did it all for the Colonels as he had 37 points, 13 boards, six assists, three steals and two blocks. Reischel went 10-of-11 from the floor to as the Colonels shot .667 from the field and an impressive .813 in the second half.
The Lancers have two more road games this week before opening Big South Conference play. Longwood will take on the Maine Black Bears on Wednesday, Nov. 25 and the Columbia Lions on Saturday, Nov. 28 before a showdown with the Preseason Big South favorite High Point Panthers on Dec. 2.
Red shirt senior center/forward Lotanna Nwogbo (pictured) earned a double-double in the Eastern Kentucky Classic's opening game this weekend, Nov. 20-22, setting a career-high in points (27), also adding 15 rebounds. Nwogbo had two 20-point games over the course of the three-game tournament, with sophomore guard Kanayo Obi-Rapu Jr. and red shirt senior guard Tra-Vaughn White joining him with one 20-point game apiece.
