December 11, 2004
BOX SCORE
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Longwood University dropped an 87-72 men’s basketball decision to UC Davis Saturday night in the consolation game of the Northwestern Mutual Shootout in San Francisco, California. The Lancers (0-11) led 45-40 at halftime before a 26-5 run to start the second half enabled the Aggies (3-4) to take the victory. Longwood, playing its fifth game in eight days, will now take a week off for semester exams before hosting Howard University on Saturday, Dec. 18, at 3 p.m. in Willett Hall in Farmville.
Longwood was on the scoreboard first against UC Davis as junior Chad Kosmo/Northport, Maine (Maine Central Institute) tallied inside at 19:24. The Lancers still led 11-10 at 15:16 on a basket by sophomore Maurice Sumter/Alexandria (T.C. Williams). The Aggies, however, used a 16-8 run to take its largest lead of the first half at 26-19 with 9:11 left. LU, though, fought back with its own 15-6 run to lead 34-32 at 4:15 on a layup by sophomore Michael Jefferson/Chesterfield (Meadowbrook), and extended the margin to 45-35 on a three-pointer from freshman Brandon Giles/Gaithersburg, Md. (Magruder) with under a minute remaining in the first half. The Giles trey capped a 26-9 run and gave the Lancers their largest lead of the contest before UC Davis closed the period with a pair of free throws and a buzzer-beating three-pointer for the 45-40 halftime score.
UC Davis continued with its momentum in the second half, a 31-5 run overall, to lead 66-50 with 12:15 on the clock. Longwood battled back again with a 17-8 run to close to within 74-67 at 5:05. Jefferson, who scored 11 points, including two consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays, sparked the run. If not for a pair of questionable technical foul calls against LU that resulted in four Aggie free throws, the Lancers could have been within three points. That was not the reality of the game, though, and UC Davis outscored Longwood 13-5 over the final 4:40 to secure the outcome.
Jefferson led Longwood with his team-high 23 points to match his season-high in scoring, shooting 7-12 from the field with a three-pointer, and 8-9 at the line. Sumter finished with 14 points, including 12 in the first half, while freshman Lamar Barrett/Providence, R.I. (St. Andrews) added eight points, a game-high nine rebounds, and four assists. LU shot a season-best 51% (24-47) from the field, including 39% (5-13) on three-pointers, and 73% (19-26) at the line.
Phil Rasmusson came off the bench to score a game-high 28 points to lead UC Davis, making 11-13 from the field, including 4-6 three-pointers, and 2-3 at the line. Fowzi Abdelsamad and Ryan Moore each added 18 points for the Aggies, while Thomas Juillerat contributed 10 points. UC Davis shot 48% (30-62) from the field, including 33% (8-24) on three-pointers, and 83% (19-23) at the line.
Longwood and UC Davis are each reclassifying to NCAA Division I, and each institution is in the second year of their respective four-year transition period. It was the first time the two schools have ever played each other in the sport of men’s basketball.
