FARMVILLE, Va. – For a Longwood men's basketball team that entered Sunday winless and without six players due to injury, good fortune has been hard to come by this season.
 
But sometimes one breakthrough is all it takes to start the turnaround.
 
Building on back-to-back losses at the UNCG Spartan Classic that were rife with flashes of potential but deflated by a lack of consistency, Longwood (1-5) broke through its early-season funk and erupted for the program's highest-scoring performance of head coach Jayson Gee's five-year tenure by routing N.C. Wesleyan 107-78 Sunday afternoon in Willett Hall.
 
Bolstered by five double-digit scorers and a career-high 31 points from redshirt senior B.K. Ashe, the Lancers broke out for their first triple-digit game in three years. The 107 points were the most Longwood has scored in any of Gee's 135 games coaching the Lancers, as were the 43 made field goals and .672 shooting percentage.
 
"I really believe, despite the unfortunate results of the road trip [last week in Greensboro, N.C.], that this team turned a corner," Gee said. "We came out focused, prepared, and ready to go. [Assistant coach Cody Anderson] did a really good job on the scouting report; guys were really prepared, and they all bought in."
 
Sunday's all-around performance saw Longwood shoot better than 65 percent in both halves while dishing a season-high 20 assists and giving up a season-low eight turnovers. The Lancers racked up 10 steals against N.C. Wesleyan (1-3) and turned 18 Bishop turnovers into a season-high 28 points.
 

Anyone else feel that?? JaShaun Smith registers one on the Richter scale with the right-handed SLAM! Lancers in full control through one half. #GoWood pic.twitter.com/jPUGRhQknI

— Longwood Men's BB (@LongwoodMBB) November 26, 2017

 
Ashe had eight of Longwood's assists and, in only his sixth game as a Lancer, set career highs in points, assists and made field goals. He had 19 points in the first half and, with his eight assists, contributed to 53 of Longwood's points.
 
And just as Longwood has begun to round into form, so has the two-time all-NEC guard Ashe, who sat out the 2016-17 season due to NCAA regulations after transferring to Longwood from Mount St. Mary's. His 31-point outburst Sunday was his third straight double-figure scoring game, bumping his averages during that stretch to a team-leading 22.7 points and 3.7 assists during that stretch.
 
"He's just a really talented player that's really getting into a groove, particularly offensively," Gee said of Ashe, who came to Longwood after scoring more than 1,000 career points during an all-conference career at Mount St. Mary's.
 
"I'd like to see him pick up the defense more, and he's responded to that challenge. But what I like most about him is he's so coachable. He really controls the vibe of our team. He has all these guys staying positive, looking forward to the future, working on getting better. It's just a really encouraging thing to have him part of our program."
 

Look at the chemistry between Isaiah Walton & BK Ashe! #GoWood pic.twitter.com/d0xaUNxH1L

— Longwood Men's BB (@LongwoodMBB) November 26, 2017

Longwood's four other starters took the early cue from Ashe, all finishing in double figures after Ashe opened the game with 11 points and two assists in the first 11 minutes. Isaiah Walton followed him in the scoring column with 22 points – his team-leading third 20-point game of the season – while Ashe's fellow Mount St. Mary's transfer Charles Glover poured in 18 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from three-point range.
 
Chris Shields also neared a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, and JaShaun Smith added 15 points with two dunks and a career-high-matching three blocks. Junior Spencer Franklin, in his Longwood debut, also made his mark with four points, three rebounds and a pair of blocks in 19 minutes.
 
"Over Thanksgiving we got to spend time with family, but we got back in the gym quickly," said Shields, who shook off his own rusty start to the season by hitting 5-of-6 shots from the field Sunday.
 
"The coaches really just talked about effort and executing because the losses we've taken, a lot of them were our fault; just things that we did. We just have to fix a lot of little things, and this was a good bounce-back game for us."
 

This is how you run the floor. Spencer Franklin with the block, Kamil Chapman w/ the feed and Chris Shields with the one-handed slam! #GoWood pic.twitter.com/D0SxYQNqiS

— Longwood Men's BB (@LongwoodMBB) November 26, 2017

 
Longwood was in control throughout and held N.C. Wesleyan to a .433 (26-of-60) shooting percentage. N.C. Wesleyan guards Adrian Moore and Justin Tankelewicz led the Bishops with 13 points apiece, while Robert Wilson added 10 of his own. Those three contributed nearly 50 percent of N.C. Wesleyan's scoring with the remaining 10 players in the Bishop lineup combining for just 42 points.
 
The Lancers outscored the Battling Bishops 46-28 in the paint and got 18 of their points on fast-break opportunities, including four buckets that were started by steals in the backcourt from Ashe and Walton.
 
"We're coming together really well," Shields said. "We're seeing flashes of what we can do. In practice we go back to a lot of the good, positive things we can do, and we try to build on that. I think this team has a lot of potential to be a really good team in the Big South."
 
Longwood will continue to reach for that potential during its three-game homestand, which continues this Wednesday, Nov. 29, against Bluefield State at 7 p.m. and the following Saturday, Dec. 2, against Fayetteville State at 3 p.m. The Lancers will then gear up for a grueling December road stretch which sends them to VMI, Illinois, Arizona State and Grand Canyon, with a lone home game against Cornell on Dec. 15.
 
#GoWood