The Longwood Lancers men’s basketball team lost a tension-packed game against in-state rivals Radford on Saturday, February 8. A shot with just two seconds remaining gave the visiting Highlanders the victory stunning the sold out crowd.
Longwood men’s basketball entered the game after losing two close road matchups against Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern. The Lancers started slowly, with Radford finding open looks early and often in the first half. Being down two key rotational players in forward Johan Nziemi and guard KJ McClurg certainly hindered the Lancers on the boards. The Highlanders grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes of action. The visitors held the lead going into the break at 38-32.
The recurring theme of the Lancers finding their stride in the second half continued, as they converted three triples in the first few minutes of the second half after only making one in the first half. Graduate student forward Michael Christmas drilled a three-pointer that seemed to turn the tide to the home team’s favor, until he was called for a fourth foul on the very next possession.
Sophomore Guard Colby Garland hit a signature floater with plenty of red shirts around and tied the game at 69 with eight seconds left. The Highlanders ran the ball to almost the exact spot on the opposite end of the floor and Radford’s Brandon Maclin shocked the sold out crowd with a mid-range of his own with two seconds left. “I thought [Radford] out-competed us in the first half…For us we have the discipline to continue to execute and not get sloppy, and unfortunately that’s what happened,” said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. “In competitive games, execution is key. Credit [to] our guys for fighting back and taking the lead, but we have to keep our foot on the gas.”
Sophomore guard Colby Garland finished the day with a career-high 23 points and Junior guard Angelo Brizzi had 13 points with Senior point guard Kyrell Luc contributing 12 of his own. Longwood was outrebounded by four at the end of the game, a figure that could be considered impressive given the difference in rebounding in the first half. They absolutely manhandled us in the first half. I was proud of the guys for only giving up one [offensive rebound] in the second half,” Aldrich said. “You can’t play hard for 20 minutes, you have to play hard for 40 minutes.”
Having now dropped three games in a row, the Lancers sit at a 5-5 conference record with all three of the losses having been by margins of five points or less. “I feel like we fought hard, [losing] three games in a row is tough on us mentally,” said Garland. “We just have to take it one game at a time and try to get back on the left side of the column. We still have six more conference games and then obviously the Big South tournament [still to play].”
Longwood men’s basketball now heads to High Point for the rematch of the whirlwind game in Farmville where Longwood scraped out an 82-80 win against the Panthers. It will be the first time Longwood comes back to High Point since winning the Big South tournament there in March of 2024.
