Longwood Athletics

February 2, 2010

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University rallied from a late 10-point deficit to take a thrilling 70-66 come-from-behind men’s basketball home victory past visiting Big South Conference member High Point University Tuesday night at Willett Hall in Farmville. The Lancers (6-16) trailed 64-54 with under four minutes remaining before outscoring the Panthers (11-11) 16-2 over the final 3:35, tying it at 66-66 on a three-point field goal by senior Kevin Swecker/Manchester, Md. (Mount Saint Joseph) at :48.6, and junior Aaron Mitchell/Matoaca (Manatee CC) made the two go-ahead free throws at :22.6 before redshirt-senior Dana Smith/Woodbridge (C.D. Hylton) sealed the outcome with two more free throws at :02.7. Sophomore Antwan Carter/St. Petersburg, Fla. (St. Petersburg) led LU with 19 points, followed by Mitchell with 18 points, and Smith with his seventh double-double of 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. HPU was led by Nick Barbour with a game-high 20 points. Longwood will play again on Saturday afternoon, February 6, on the road at NJIT of the Great West Conference in Newark, New Jersey beginning at 2 p.m..

Longwood fell behind by as many as 14 points in the opening half as High Point led 38-24 at 3:17 while ahead 38-26 at the intermission. The Panthers led 48-34 with 16:39 remaining before the Lancers battled back with a 17-3 run to tie it at 51-51 with 10:42 on the clock. Mitchell (6), Carter (4), and Smith (4) combined for 14 of the points, including Mitchell’s tying layup. HPU, however, answered with a 13-3 run to take its 10 point advantage at 4:18 following a free throw by Corey Law who scored six points during the run. LU refused to quit, though, and fought back once-again much to the delight of the tremendous student section among the near-capacity crowd of 1,702. Smith began the comeback with a free throw at 3:35, Swecker got a steal and jumper at 3:29, Mitchell made two free throws at 2:57, Carter made back-to-back layups at 2:40 and 2:06 and it was 64-63 in favor of the visitors. Barbour sank two free throws at 1:02 for a 66-63 lead before Swecker’s crucial game-tying three-pointer at :48.6. Mitchell rebounded a missed jumper from Barbour and was fouled before making his go-ahead free throws at :22.6, and Smith added his free throws at :02.7 when he finally secured the rebound after four point-blank misses in the lane by High Point. At the final buzzer, the Longwood students stormed the court and celebrated the exciting triumph -- one of the loudest home crowds in recent history over the final 10 minutes of the well-played contest.

Carter led Longwood with 19 points, adding eight rebounds. Mitchell added 18 points and five assists for the Lancers. Smith contributed his seventh double-double of 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Swecker had nine points. LU shot 41% (25-61) from the field, including 36% (5-14) on three-pointers, and 65% (15-23) at the free throw line.

Barbour led High Point with a game-high 20 points. Law added a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Panthers. HPU shot 39% (26-67) from the field, including 36% (4-11) on three-pointers, and 67% (10-15) at the line.

Longwood defeated High Point for the first time since 2006-07 as the Panthers had won the last three meetings between the two schools, including a 12-point win in North Carolina last season (81-69). The Lancers’ last win in the series (13-6 in favor of HPU) was a 69-64 victory in Willet Hall on January 28, 2007. The game was also a reunion of sorts for LU seventh-year head coach Mike Gillian and first-year High Point head coach Scott Cherry who were former assistant coaches together at George Mason University under veteran GMU head coach Jim Larranaga.