11.29.2010

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University dropped an 83-78 men's basketball home decision to visiting Fairleigh Dickinson University of the Northeast Conference at Willett Hall in Farmville. Junior standout Antwan Carter|St. Petersburg, Fla. (St. Petersburg) led the host Lancers (3-4) with his fourth double-double this season of 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds as LU rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to tie the contest at 72-72 with 1:50 left only to fall short at the end. Mike Scott led the visiting Knights (1-3) with a game-high double-double of 21 points and 10 assists, adding nine rebounds to just miss a rare triple-double. Longwood returns to action on Wednesday night, December 1, hosting James Madison University (5-1) of the Colonial Athletic Association in Farmville with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. It will be the first-ever Live TV game from Willett Hall on-campus as the highly-anticipated contest will be nationally televised by Fox College Sports (FCS). For ticket information, please call the Longwood Ticket Office at 434.395.2138.

Longwood scored the first eight points of the game and led 10-2 at 16:44 of the first half before Fairleigh Dickinson used a 14-5 run to lead 16-15 at 13:14 behind eight quick points from Scott. It was 23-23 with 9:01 left in the period after a layup from Carter, but the Knights exploded with a 28-8 run to take their largest lead of the game at 51-31 at 1:32, and FDU led 54-35 at the intermission when Scott made a three-point field goal at the buzzer while finishing with 15 first-half points. The visitors shot 66.7% (22-33) from the field in the first half, including 83.3% (5-6) on three-pointers. The Lancers shot just 35.7% (15-42) from the field during the opening 20 minutes, including 21.4% (3-14) on three-pointers.

Longwood still trailed by 20 points at 59-39 with 16:37 remaining before putting together a valiant comeback attempt over the final 16:20. It was started with a basket inside by Carter, followed by a three-pointer from freshman Mark Parker|Clayton, N.C. (West Johnston) that got the crowd back into the game as the Lancers made a 24-4 run to tie the game at 63-63 with 6:47 on the clock on a pair of free throws by Carter. Six different players scored during the outburst, including Parker and junior Martiz Washington|Hopewell (Christchurch) with two three-pointers each, with Washington adding two free throws before another three-pointer by redshirt-junior Durann Neil|Pleasantville, N.J. (Leap Academy). Washington was 1-2 at the line at 5:28 to tie it at 65-65 before the Knights scored five unanswered points to lead 70-65 with 4:06 to play. LU battled back again, though, and was within 72-71 at 2:49 after senior Aaron Mitchell|Matoaca (Manatee CC) scored twice around a pair of free throws by junior transfer Jeremiah Bowman|Washington, D.C. (Harcum College). Carter made 1-2 free throws to tie it for the last time at 72-72 with 1:50 left, but unfortunately, FDU outscored the hosts 11-6 over the final 1:20, including 9-10 free throws to secure the outcome before the tremendously supportive but disappointed students/fans among the crowd of 1,129.

"It was one of those situations where we missed a lot of shots early, we fell behind, dug ourselves a pretty deep hole, but at halftime I think we regrouped very well," said ninth-year assistant coach Bill Reinson.  "The guys all responded, they came out and played their butts off the entire second half. Just fell a little bit short. We could never get over the hump. You're upset because of the loss, but your happy because of the way they played in the second half. It showed fortitude and guts, and I think if we continue to play like that, I think we're going to be very successful the rest of the year."

Carter led Longwood with his fourth double-double of 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Washington finished with 14 points off the bench for the Lancers, while junior Jan van der Kooij|Tiendeveen, The Netherlands (Roelof van Echten) added 13 points, including 11 in the first half. Mitchell had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Neil had 11 points and four assists. LU shot 38.6% (27-70) from the field, including 33.3% (9-27) on three-pointers, and 60.0% (15-25) at the free throw line.

Scott led Fairleigh Dickinson with his game-high double-double of 21 points and 10 assists, adding nine rebounds. Terence Grier finished with 17 points for the Knights, including 12 in the first half, while Kamil Svrdlik had a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds. FDU shot 55.8% (29-52) from the field, including 62.5% (5-8) on three-pointers, and 60.6% (20-33) at the line.

It was just the second-ever meeting between the two schools in men's basketball as the series is now tied at 1-1. Longwood defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 83-81 last season in New Jersey.

Quote from senior captain Aaron Mitchell: "We came out slow and sluggish at the beginning. It's the second game in a row we came out down by 16 or more points. We have to stop having a bad start to games. If we play like we did in the second half the whole game, we'll easily win that game."

Quote from junior Antwan Carter: "We came out real slow, not like we usually do when we're playing at home. We had a lot of open shots, but we missed a lot of them. I guess that's what caused them to get such a big lead, but in the second half we fought back; changed up our defense. Everybody was playing hard, but we just couldn't come back in the end. We just have to work on coming out and playing hard from the beginning."