Highlights (YouTube) | Photo Gallery (Facebook)

FARMVILLE, Va. – The rivalry of Highway 460 delivered again.
 
Two schools separated by just 48 miles were separated by just one possession for the second straight game Saturday, as Liberty hit 16 three-pointers and rode 20 points from A.C. Reid to a 69-68 win over Commonwealth rival Longwood in front of a sellout crowd in Willett Hall.
 
Reid hit six treys for the red-hot Flames (11-15, 9-4 Big South), who edged the Lancers by one point less than one month after pulling out a 55-53 win over the Lancers on Jan. 19 in Lynchburg, Va. That first meeting ended on an overturned foul call that would have sent Longwood point guard Tra'Vaughn White to the line for two free throws as time expired but was instead called final after the call was reversed on review.
 
Liberty parlayed that unconventional buzzer-beater into its current win streak, which expanded to seven games behind a 16-of-30 shooting performance from three-point range on Longwood's home floor Saturday. Six different shooters hit a three-pointer for the Flames, who knocked down 10-of-15 treys after halftime to beat Longwood in Willett Hall for the first time in series history.
 
"It was a tough day to lose a tough game," said Longwood head coach Jayson Gee. "[My team] played with great heart, enthusiasm, toughness and energy. You hate to go down on a day like today. They expended a lot of energy to compete in this game and compete at a high level. It just hurts that we came out on the short end of the stick."
 
Longwood (8-19, 4-10 Big South) had four chances to tie the game after a Lotanna Nwogbo free throw cut the lead to 69-66 with 2:32 to play, but the Lancer sharpshooting trio of Darrion Allen, Tra'Vaughn White and Kanayo Obi-Rapu all came up empty on four straight three-point attempts.
 
Nwogbo, who finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his Big South-leading 10th double-double, put the Lancers within one point with 21 seconds to play after grabbing a rebound on Obi-Rapu's last miss, drawing a foul and hitting a pair of free throws to cut the score to 69-68. Liberty's Caleb Homesley followed by missing the front end of a 1-and-1, but Longwood's final possession fell short when an inbounds pass to White with 2.4 seconds left resulted in a contested, off-balance jumper from the baseline that hit off the side of the backboard.

"We were trying to set a staggered screen for Tra'Vaughn to come off, allowing him to shoot the basketball, or a cross screen with Lotanna for Shaq[uille Johnson] to slip in," said Gee of the final play. "We ended up giving it to the first option, which was Tra. He got a shot off, but it just wasn't good enough."
 
Longwood becomes the most recent victim of a surging Liberty team that has climbed from the Big South cellar into a spot in the league's top four in just three weeks under head coach Ritchie McKay, who returned to the Flames this season after a two-year stint from 2007-09. Liberty has upset second-place Winthrop and swept preseason favorite High Point for two wins during their seven-game streak.
 
"Their players have a high IQ," Gee said. "Their skillset makes it difficult to match up with them. Their diversity of skills, what they bring to the table, that makes it difficult."
 
Those skills were on display Saturday as Reid and company shot .453 (24-of-53) from the field and hit more three-pointers (16) than they missed (14). Homesley and John Dawson joined Reid in double figures with 13 points and three three-pointers apiece.
 
The 16 treys were enough to offset a fourth straight double-double from Nwogbo, who hit 8-of-9 field goals and all five free throws. Nwogbo was one of five Lancers in double figures, leading a group that included Khris Lane's 4-of-4 three-pointers and 12 points off the bench.
 
But despite allowing the five double-figure scorers and Nwogbo's fourth 20-point game, Liberty was able to lock down White, who entered the game on a nine-game double-digit scoring streak as one of the Big South's hottest scorers. White, who torched the Flames for 18 points in the first meeting, including back-to-back three-pointers in the final 10 seconds, struggled to just 2-of-15 shooting Saturday.
 
"Just an off ballgame for Tra'," Gee said. "If you would have told me he was going to go 2-for-15 and 1-for-7 in this game, I wouldn't have believed you. He's had a really great run here in the last six or seven games, so maybe you can say he was due for a bad one. I didn't realize he'd missed that many shots during the course of the game because you just have so much confidence in him and what he's done and what he can do."
 
Longwood will get a chance at redemption this Thursday when Big South preseason favorite High Point comes to Willett Hall for a 7 p.m. matchup. That will be the second-to-last home game of the season for the Lancers, who follow with a road game at Gardner-Webb on Feb. 20 before returning home to host Presbyterian in the home finale and senior day on Feb. 25.
 
"Resiliency has been tested in this ball club all year," Gee said. "Certainly after a game like this, it's going to be tested again. But all year long, they've risen to the occasion. They've really relied on those seniors, who have stepped up on and off the court to really find a way to make things happen for us."
 
#GoWood