Though they didn’t start well, the Longwood Lancers once again weathered an early storm and raced away with a 26-point win against USC Upstate. After digging themselves out of the 13-point hole, the Lancers eased to victory in the second half in front of 2,600 fans at home.
After their gritty road win over Radford on Wednesday, Longwood faced five-win USC Upstate in Farmville, Virginia. Longwood was the heavy favorite, boasting a 10-1 home record. But it didn’t start off easy for the Lancers (16-6, 5-2 Big South).
The Lancers shot just 26.3% from the floor in the first half compared to Radford’s 52.6%. The Lancers started to show signs of life late in the first half after forcing Upstate (5-17, 1-6 Big South) into turnover after turnover. Despite the sluggish start, the Lancers cut the deficit to 32-30 at the half.
Out of the break, Longwood showed improved ball movement and shot the ball better. As the turnovers from Upstate began to increase, so did the quality looks for Longwood. With eight minutes gone in the second half, the game turned on its head as Longwood led 49-38.
More and more Lancers got involved as the second half moved on, and with how deep Longwood is, that usually is a good thing. After two Michael Christmas 3-pointers, the Lancers grabbed full control. Longwood kept its foot on the gas and won 80-54 with six players in double figures.
Many of Longwood’s wins so far this season, in non-conference and conference play, have been due to second-half comebacks. Longwood used a 22-6 run from the end of the first half to around midway in the second half to pull away. The Lancers outscored the Spartans 50-22 in the second half alone, and the 54 points given up by Longwood is the fewest they have allowed to Division I opposition this season.
“I think [we] handled adversity really well. The group made a decision to come together and fight,” said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. “We always say that the body will follow the mind…and credit to [the players], we finished with a really good second half.”
Point guard Kyrell Luc, who scored his 1,000th career point in the team’s game against Radford, played a pivotal role in Saturday’s victory, as he registered 15 points and four assists.
“We came into the locker room and talked about the mistakes we were making on the defensive end. That was pretty much it, [we needed to] stick with our game plan and play for each other,” Luc said.
Longwood didn’t just have the guards to thank for its performance in the game. Both bigs, Elijah Tucker and Johan Nziemi, had double-doubles.
“Those two have really been huge for us this year and I was really happy to see them score and rebound the ball so well,” said Aldrich.
Longwood’s offense took it up a notch in the second half, as the Lancers shot 56% from the field and 50% from 3 compared to marks of 39% overall and 12% from 3 in the first half.
“When we are driving and getting good shots, it’s because we’re aggressive going to the rim,” said Christmas. “That makes the defense have to help, and that [lets] me and the guards be able to get good shots… I feel that we’re all spreading the wealth.”
Longwood now heads to the road for two straight games. The first comes against Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday.
“[We need to] keep our mentality the same, lock in on the little details and keep everything simple,” Luc said regarding the two away games.
