Longwood Battles, But Late Surge Lifts Radford Past Lancers 63-59

Longwood Battles, But Late Surge Lifts Radford Past Lancers 63-59 | https://longwoodlancers.com/

By Press release submission

Jan 27, 2023

Longwood Battles, But Late Surge Lifts Radford Past Lancers 63-59

A back and forth basketball game went against Longwood men's basketball on Thursday night to wrap up the first half of conference play. Radford used a late run to take down the Lancers 63-59.

The Highlanders (13-9, 7-2 Big South) summoned the late-game magic with a 12-4 spurt in the final four minutes. Josiah Jeffers had a game-high 13 points, but he was flanked by a 12-point effort by Bryan Antoine and matching 11-point nights from Justin Archer and DaQuan Smith.

Leslie Nkereuwem led Longwood (15-7, 7-2 Big South) with 11 points and plenty of energy plays. It was his first game with at least 10 points since returning from an injury two weeks ago. Isaiah Wilkins chipped in 10 points as the Lancers had eight players score.

Radford opened the game on a tear and jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes. The lead grew to 11 a few minutes later, but then the Lancers dug in.

"It was a very disappointing performance by the Lancers," said Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich. "It was very clear that Radford wanted it more than we did. To start out 12-2, I will take responsibility for not having the guys ready to play. I'm at a loss how we can start the way that we did. It's lethargic. It's not playing with any purpose. Our team has not understood that people want to beat us very badly."

DeShaun Wade hit a three to cut the lead to 18-11 halfway through the half, and the Lancer defense locked down Radford. Wade's three kick-started a 12-4 spurt, and Nkereuwem gave Longwood its first lead of the game, 23-22, with a dunk off a feed from Nate Lliteras.

"Credit to our guys, they fought back." Aldrich said. "We started to play defense. We started to play with purpose."

After Radford retook the lead, Longwood closed the half on a 6-0 run. Wilkins canned a turnaround jumper as time expired for a 31-29 lead at the break.

Early in the second half, the Lancers extended the lead to 42-35 on a Michael Christmas three with 13:46 to play, but Radford tightened up defensively. The Highlanders did not surrender a free throw to Longwood in the final 20 minutes.

After Radford cut Longwood's lead to one, Christmas again hit a three, his third of the game, with 4:47 to play for a 55-51 lead. The Highlanders had the answer though, with Kenyon Giles hitting a stepback three at the end of the shot clock the next time down. It was his only bucket of the game, and it jumpstarted the 12-4 Radford run to end it.

"We've got to work on being a team that is focused on execution," Aldrich added. "We've got to be a team that values that. To be a team that is focused on execution, you have to have relentless effort, you have to have an urgent focus on details. This team has that in spurts. We had a tremendous segment in the first half to fight to get back in, but then we went away from it. It's the same thing we did against Presbyterian. We got up, and then we let them back in. That's what we did tonight, but we couldn't pull it out. There's not enough urgency from the Lancers right now to be a high level basketball team."

Longwood returns home on Saturday to begin the second half of conference play. The Lancers host Charleston Southern at 6 p.m., and the game will be aired on ESPN+ and on the radio on WVHL 92.9 Kickin' Country.