Longwood men’s basketball were back at home after their road triumph against Presbyterian. Against one of toughest teams in the conference, UNC Asheville, the Lancers picked up a narrow win in front of a raucous Joan Perry Brock Center. With just a few games left, the Lancers need to find a way to keep their good form going.
Riding high of two consecutive wins, Longwood men’s basketball were pitted against the high-flying Bulldogs of UNC Asheville on Wednesday, February 21. Both teams have had wins in the rear view and that gave both teams confidence going into this late conference affair, and that showed in a back-and-forth first 4 minutes where both teams couldn’t miss. After Longwood seemed to gain the upper hand, UNC Asheville stormed back to lead the game at half at the score of 35-29.
The Lancers were not at all out of this game. The main problem seemed to be the shots not falling. Thankfully for the home fans, the shots started to go in. The Lancers started to find not only a way back into the game, but began to lead the game for most of the second half. After some clutch made three-pointers by graduate student forward Michael Christmas, Longwood had UNC Asheville on the ropes. After a late scare, Junior shooting guard John-John Massie scored the final seven points for Longwood which would secure the unlikely win at the score of 80-75.
This statement win against one of the most successful teams in the Big South of the past few seasons now puts Longwood in 5th place in the Big South. Only two weeks ago, Longwood was dead last in the conference. While there is still work to be done to gain some more ground, the Lancers win in a almost full Joan Perry Brock Center will be a game remembered for a long time. UNC Asheville came into this game with an 11-2 conference record, and had their sight set on first place in the Big South. However, the Lancers seemed to not do anything special to get ready for an opponent like this. “Our preparation is typically the same for every team [we play],” said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich.
Senior point guard Walyn Napper led the Lancers with 16 points. His two second half three-pointers helped the Lancers stay in the lead and clinch the win in the end. “[In the first half] We [were] kind of trading baskets back-and-forth. We went into halftime a little down, but we knew we were playing good. At halftime, coach told us to reset. So we came out and we reset and we connected throughout the rest of the second half and played great,” Napper said.
The second half was nervy at the very end. With UNC Asheville only down two with a minute to go, Massie drained a three-pointer off a pass from Christmas to give the Lancers a five point lead which ended up being the margin of victory. “We’ve been in that position a lot this year, especially in conference [play]. We had already been in that position so we were confident that we were going to get [it] done,” Christmas said.
In a nail-biter of a game, both due to the close nature of the game and the circumstances in the Big South Conference, Longwood’s mental toughness and lively second half proved to be too much for the Bulldogs. There are three games to go in conference, with only one home game remaining. The Lancers will travel to Radford to play the Highlanders on February 24.
