November 18, 2008
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took an 85-84 home victory past visiting Gardner-Webb University Tuesday night in Willett Hall on-campus in Farmville. Senior captain
Ryan Bogan/Oxford, Pa. (Harcum JC) made 1-2 free throws with 5.9-seconds remaining, and junior
Kevin Swecker/Manchester, Md. (Mount Saint Joseph) stole the ball with two-seconds left to seal the victory. Redshirt-junior captain
Dana Smith/Woodbridge (C.D. Hylton) led the Lancers (2-1) with 18 points while the Runnin' Bulldogs (0-2), who won at Kentucky last year, were led by Anton Silver with a game-high 21 points. Longwood will play again on Thursday, November 20, on the road at BIG EAST Conference member West Virginia University in Morgantown at 7 p.m.. It will be the Lancers' opening game in this year's Findlay Toyota/Las Vegas Invitational.
“This is without a doubt one of the best wins in our brief Division I history,” said sixth-year head coach Mike Gillian. “It's an indication of how far this program has come, and our next challenge is to realize that this was no mistake -- we deserved to win.”
Longwood led 48-32 at halftime behind 14 first-half points from Smith, its largest lead of the contest, after closing the first half with a 24-8 run over the final 6:08. Junior #E.J. Dawson#/Ft. Belvoir (Mount Vernon) added nine points, including six over the final 1:48 as the hosts shot 58% (21-36) from the field over the first 20 minutes; limiting Gardner-Webb to just 35% (9-26). The Lancers led for 19:51 of the second half, though the Runnin' Bulldogs erased their large deficit quickly with a 17-6 run to open the half as Grayson Flittner scored six points to trail 54-49 at 15:34. LU was able to maintain the advantage, and led 84-79 after consecutive layups from Bogan (1:20) and Smith (0:46). GWU finally managed to tie the game at 84-84 with just 9.3-seconds left to play when Aaron Linn made a jumper in the lane after a Grayson three-pointer. Bogan was fouled while going to the basket and made the first free throw of a one-and-one opportunity, but missed the second attempt before Swecker's steal prevented Gardner-Webb, who shot 63% (19-30) in the second half, from a possible winning shot attempt.
Smith led Longwood with 18 points on 9-13 shooting from the field to lead five players in double-figures for the hosts. Others included Swecker with 14 points (2-4 3FG), while Bogan, Dawson, and freshman
Martiz Washington/Hopewell (Christchurch) (3-6 3FG) each finished with 11 points for the Lancers. Sophomore
Durann Neil/Pleasantville, N.J. (Leap Academy) contributed a career-high nine assists while adding six points. LU shot 57% (35-61) from the field, including 33% (6-18) on three-pointers, and 82% (9-11) at the free throw line. The Lancers only had nine turnovers.
Silver led Gardner-Webb with 21 points (9-10 FG, 3-4 3FG) and nine rebounds, while Linn had 20 points, Flittner added 18 points, and Joshua Henley finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. GWU shot 50% (28-56) from the field, including 38% (6-16) on three-pointers, and 76% (22-29) at the line.
Longwood now leads the all-time series against Gardner-Webb at 5-3 with four-straight wins but the first in Division I.
