November 28, 2006

BOX SCORE

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Longwood University dropped a 71-59 men’s basketball road decision at North Carolina A&T Tuesday night in Greensboro, North Carolina. The visiting Lancers (3-4) were led by senior Maurice Sumter/Alexandria (T.C. Williams) with a game-high 19 points, while the host Aggies (2-4) were led by Glenn Nelson with 14 points off the bench. Longwood will play again on Friday night, December 1, hosting Navy on-campus in Willett Hall beginning at 7 p.m..

Longwood fell behind 5-1 just 1:58 into the game before a 7-2 run gave the Lancers their only lead of the night at 8-7 with 15:44 left in the opening half on a three-point field goal from junior Brandon Giles/Gaithersburg, Md. (Magruder). North Carolina A&T went back in front, though only led 13-12 at 11:42 after a lay-in from Sumter. The Aggies took advantage of a 19-10 run to take their largest lead of the first half at 32-22 with 4:58 left before the break. A pair of free throws from senior Clayton Morgan/Brooklyn, N.Y. (Fashion Institute) made it 34-29 at 1:27 but the hosts scored the final three points of the period to lead 37-29 at the intermission.

Longwood trailed 42-31 with 15:52 remaining before battling back into the contest, closing to within 47-45 at 11:10 on a pair of free throws by Giles to cap a 14-5 run. Sumter scored five points during the run, including a three-pointer. It remained close the rest of the way as the Lancers were still within two points at 55-53 with 6:29 left on two more free throws from Giles. NCAT, however, responded with back-to-back three-pointers to lead 61-53 at 4:23 before Sumter scored four unanswered points to pull the visitors back within 61-57 with 3:15 on the clock. It appeared that the Lancers had a defensive stop on a block/jump ball situation but it was not called and the ball bounced to an Aggie player under the basket for the layup at 2:38 that began a game-ending 10-2 run for the final 12-point margin – also the largest lead of the contest.

Sumter finished with a game-high 19 points, adding five rebounds while playing the entire 40 minutes to lead Longwood. Morgan just missed a double-double with his nine points and game-high 10 rebounds for the Lancers while Giles and junior Lamar Barrett/Providence, R.I. (St. Andrews) each contributed seven points. LU shot just 35% (19-55) from the field, including 24% (6-25) on three-pointers, and 83% (15-18) at the free throw line – committing 24 turnovers that were converted into 25 points.

Nelson came off the bench to score 14 points for North Carolina A&T, while Austin Ewing and Jason Wills each added 13 points. The Aggies shot 50% (27-54) from the field, including 40% (6-15) on three-pointers, and 55% (11-20) at the line. NCAT committed 22 turnovers, though Longwood only converted into 15 points.