FARMVILLE, Va. – It only took two games for Longwood freshman guard Ryan Badowski to become a fan favorite.
 
Longwood's sharp-shooting newcomer showed his debut performance against Hampden-Sydney last week was no fluke, sinking 7-of-12 three-pointers on the way to a team-high 21 points as Longwood stormed past Averett in the season opener Friday evening in Willett Hall. The 6-4 Cleveland, Ohio, native ignited the home crowd and ended his night with an exclamation point, draining five of his final six shots from beyond the arc to bring his two-game stat line as a Lancer to 19.5 points, 13 three-pointers and a .590 three-point shooting percentage.
 
"The crowd was great," said Badowski, who opened his collegiate career by scoring 18 points on six three-pointers in the 95-60 exhibition win against Hampden-Sydney on Nov. 8. "It motivates you and it pumps you up. It always helps to have the home crowd behind you, and we definitely have that here."
 
It wasn't just the home crowd that was behind Badowski, but his entire team. Despite missing his first two attempts in the first half, Badowski's teammates looked to him frequently and the result was the second most made three-pointers by a Longwood player in the Division I era. Badowski fell just one three-pointer shy of matching the Longwood Division I record of eight set by Tristan Carey against Liberty in 2013.
 
"Coach and my teammates give me all the confidence in the world," said Badowski, who has taken just one of his 23 field goal attempts from inside the three-point line. "They give me the green light when I get going. I'm here to shoot, and that's what I've been doing."
 
Badowski did more than shoot, however, and padded the box score with four rebounds and a pair of assists during 18 minutes of turnover-free basketball. Behind Badowski, Longwood shot 50.9 percent from the field and saw five different players record at least three assists.
 
The offensive performance came despite the absence of redshirt senior point guard Quincy Taylor, who earlier this week was deemed ineligible by the NCAA for three games for competing in a non-sanctioned recreational league during the 2013-14 academic year. Taylor, who scored 22 points with six assists in Saturday's exhibition win against Hampden-Sydney, had a front-row seat for the Ryan Badowski Show next to his teammates on the bench, clad in a coat and tie while awaiting reinstatement that will come before the Nov. 23 game against Youngstown State.
 
Taking over starting point guard duties for Taylor was junior Leron Fisher, who scored eight points and grabbed eight steals in 23 minutes of action. Fisher split time at the point with sophomore Darrion Allen and freshman Kanayo Obi-Rapu, a guard contingent that combined for 24 points, nine assists and seven steals.
 
"We had a lot of really good ball movement offensively and we hit a lot of threes," said sophomore forward Damarion Geter, who started and recorded four assists of his own without a turnover. "We're playing very unselfish right now. We played good defense even though we gave up more rebounds than we wanted to and we allowed more points than we wanted. I feel like offensively we're playing real well together right now."
 
The game was only the second public outing for a Longwood team that does not have a single player on the roster who has been with the program more than one year. That roster includes a pair of transfers who started against Averett in redshirt junior captain Lotanna Nwogbo and junior guard Shaquille Johnson. Both scored in double figures Friday.
 
"I would say [our team chemistry] has a lot to do with Coach Gee and the way he wants to run our program," Geter said. "Over the summer we were here together. We're here together throughout the school year. We're together 24/7, so spending that much time together, we have to become a family."
 
The Lancers will continue to build that chemistry during an upcoming one-week road trip that starts with an in-state matchup against James Madison Wednesday in Harrisonburg, Va. From there the Lancers will fly to Ypsilanti, Mich., to compete in the EMU Showcase on Nov. 22-24 against UNC Greensboro, Youngstown State and host Eastern Michigan.

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