FARMVILLE, Va. – UNC Asheville's 1-2 punch of Andrew Rowsey and Jaleel Roberts combined for 38 points on 13-of-22 shooting to lead the Bulldogs past Longwood, 74-64, Wednesday evening in Willett Hall.
 
Rowsey poured in 24 points to tie for the most points by an opposing player in Willett Hall this season, while Roberts scored 14 points with six rebounds in just 16 minutes of play. Their collective effort was enough to withstand 25 points from Longwood point guard Quincy Taylor, who scored 20-plus for the third straight home game. Taylor paced Longwood with 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range and a career-best 8-of-10 from the free throw line, but the 6-0, 180-pound sharpshooter found driving lanes hard to come by against the Roberts-led interior stronghold.
 
The wingspan of the 7-0, 235-pound Roberts wingspan showed up on both ends of the floor and powered UNC Asheville (10-10, 6-3 Big South) to a 49-32 rebounding margin. Forward Sam Hughes added a game-high 11 rebounds and was part of two possessions in which the Bulldogs grabbed three offensive rebounds in a single trip down the floor.
 
"We can't get beat that much on the boards if we hope to compete," Longwood head coach Jayson Gee said. "That's a major issue for us, the inability to rebound the basketball. When you give people second and third shot attempts, it's tough to beat them. We turned them over 18 times, they shot 40 percent, they only made five threes, but we just didn't rebound the basketball."
 
The minus-17 rebounding margin was Longwood's largest of the season. Roberts hauled in four offensive boards to go with a final line of 7-of-9 shooting, two blocks and two steals.
 
Behind Roberts and Hughes' rebounding, UNC Asheville turned 18 offensive boards into 13 second-chance points. Ten of those second-chance points came in the first half when Roberts was a non-factor while sidelined due to foul trouble. The Bulldogs got by just fine without him for 19 of 20 minutes in the first half, and once he got back on the floor, he scored all 14 points in his final 15 minutes of work.
 
"We played in spurts," said Longwood junior point guard Leron Fisher, who scored 11 points with three assists and three steals for Longwood. "We had some times when we played hard, but we just didn't put a solid 40 minutes together. Our intensity as a team, we just didn't put it together tonight."
 
Longwood cut UNC Asheville's lead to 46-45 with 14 minutes remaining after a technical foul on Rowsey sent Taylor to the line for two free throws. Taylor hit both foul shots, two of his career-high eight on the night, but the Bulldogs responded by scoring six straight points to rebuild a multi-possession lead that lasted until the final horn.
 
Longwood put together two spurts that pulled the game within reach but ultimately subsided at the hands of Rowsey and Roberts. After UNC Asheville staked a double-digit lead at 31-20 in the first half, Longwood opened up an 11-4 run that freshman Kanayo Obi-Rapu bookended with a three-point play to cut the lead to 34-31 with under a minute to play. Rowsey immediately jerked the momentum right out of Longwood's hands, however, drawing a foul on a three-pointer and hitting all three shots to push the lead back to six points heading into halftime.
 
Early in the second half, Longwood battled back again and rattled off a 14-7 run to trim a seven-point deficit to 46-45. That time, it was Roberts who responded with 10 points during a 23-8 run that pushed UNC Asheville's lead back to double figures.
 
"Coach gives us the gameplan every day, and today the number one thing was 'compete,'" Fisher said. "I felt like we competed, but we just didn't do it the whole game. That really hurt us."
 
The 18 offensive rebounds were the second most the Lancers have allowed behind only the 23 Radford grabbed in a double-overtime game on Jan. 3. Since center Lotanna Nwogbo went down with a thumb injury against Charleston on Jan. 10, Longwood has been outrebounded by an average of 11.4 boards per game. However, Gee was quick to discredit speculation that Nwogbo's absence was insurmountable.
 
"It's not about personnel. It doesn't matter who's here and who's not here," he said. "We have enough. We have enough to compete and fight, and do that harder than what we did on that backboard. If we can get that backboard turned around and continue to force turnovers and make people shoot 40 percent, we'll be fine. But if we don't rebound the ball, it won't matter."
 
The loss hands Longwood its third straight loss, all of which have been within one possession in the second half. Despite the difficult stretch, Fisher was quick to point toward Longwood's road game Saturday at Presbyterian.
 
"Right now, disappointment," Fisher said when asked about the demeanor of his team. "But tomorrow, guys are gonna get better. Guys are gonna watch film, guys are gonna get in the gym, guys are gonna find a way to get better. We're going to get ready for Saturday. That's one we have to win."
 
Longwood tips off with Presbyterian at 7 p.m. on the Big South Network in game two of a 2014-15 series that Presbyterian opened with a 71-67 win in the opener on Jan. 14.
 
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