The Longwood Lancers took down the High Point Panthers in the dying seconds of a thrilling game on national TV on Thursday, prevailing 82-80 at home. The Lancers now have three consecutive wins over the Panthers, all three being decided by two points or less.
After their decisive road loss to Winthrop, Longwood headed home to play their biggest game of the season, a nationally televised match-up with the Panthers. Both teams began the game shooting poorly, as the Lancers shot 2 of 9 through the first media timeout, and High Point only 1 of 6.
Grad student Michael Christmas came to life after the media timeout, draining two deep 3s to put Longwood ahead. The Panthers fought back through some tough buckets from guard Kezza Giffa and Kimani Hamilton and tied the score at 34 going into the break.
D’Maurian Williams led the Panthers with eight points, while Christmas and Jaylen Benard led Longwood in scoring with six points each. Despite a decently high-scoring first half, no player on either side had more than Williams’ eight points.
The Lancers started the second half, taking advantage of the raucous home crowd energy and hitting almost every shot they took in the first four minutes of the second half. Being the preseason favorite, the Panthers refused to let Longwood run away with it, even after the referees called High Point head coach Alan Huss for a technical foul.
An 8-0 High Point run made the game absurdly tight as it went into the final 10 minutes.
It seemed that everything one side did, the other team matched it. All the game needed was one big play to switch the tide. With the Lancers up 80-77 with one minute to go, High Point’s Chase Johnston nailed a 3-pointer from far beyond the arch to tie it up. The game-winning play went to Longwood’s Colby Garland, who drilled a floater after High Point couldn’t answer with just two seconds remaining.
Although they got to the free throw line very frequently and ranked in the top five in the country in free throw attempts per game, the Lancers only shot 19 of 34 from the stripe, which was easily their worst free throw performance of the season.
“We try to be a physical and aggressive team. We’re one of the best in the nation at drawing fouls,” said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. “I think a lot of that is our size and the aggressiveness of which we play…The big Achilles heel was that we didn’t shoot free throws today.”
Amid the struggle at the charity stripe, the Lancers shot over 70% from the field in the second half.
Longwood now improves to 10-1 at home with a 3-0 home conference record. With news of this game being on ESPNU and against the preseason favorite, over 3,000 fans packed the Joan Perry Brock Center.
“Shoutout to the students, the students did a great job packing [the arena] out…advertising this game because it was nationally televised. They were the sixth man on the floor tonight,” Garland said.
To say that this game was tense and dramatic would be an understatement. The referees issued technical fouls in the game, and both teams committed over 20 fouls total.
“We said that the toughest team is going to win tonight. We said that toughness was discipline, staying the course, and keeping our heads and trying to focus on the task at hand,” said Aldrich.
High Point heads back home to play Presbyterian in special Centennial Edition jerseys on Saturday, while Longwood has a bye before they face in-state rivals Radford.
“We’re going to practice but obviously rest our bodies as well. I know a lot of people on this team need a little break to get our bodies back to 100% especially after this physical game,” said Elijah Tucker, who led the Lancers in scoring with 16 points.
Now, with a 3-2 conference record, the Lancers sit right behind the Panthers in the Big South standings in fourth in a very unpredictable conference.
