FARMVILLE, Va. – David Efianayi poured in 20 points to lead a group of five double-figure scorers that propelled Gardner-Webb past Longwood 90-64 Saturday afternoon at Paul Porter Arena.
 
The 6-2, 175-pound Efianayi was nearly perfect from the field, hitting 8-of-10 field goals en route to his fourth 20-point game of the season and Gardner Webb's fourth win in the past five games. That surge, which included a 5-3 Big South record in January and a 2-0 start this month, has lifted the Runnin' Bulldogs (14-11, 7-5 Big South) into fifth place in the conference standings.
 
Efianayi's 20-point afternoon was a whistle-to-whistle effort that featured back-to-back 10-point halves, two three-pointers and three assists. Fellow starters Tyrell Nelson and LaQuincy Rideau complemented him with 15 points, while Liam O'Reilly scored 14 and DJ Laster added 10 off the bench.
 
The short-handed Lancers (6-17, 3-9 Big South) had little answer for Gardner-Webb's balanced scoring, getting double-figure production from only 20-point scorer Isaiah Walton and 16-point scorer Khris Lane. Longwood's starting five matched Gardner-Webb's starting five in scoring, 53-53, but the Runnin' Bulldog bench made up the difference, outscoring Longwood's three available reserves 37-11.
 
"We didn't shoot the ball well early, and Gardner-Webb's ability to get some really big threes early certainly extended the lead," said Longwood head coach Jayson Gee. "Then we got in foul trouble at the end of the half, and we just got outplayed."
 
Down four scholarship players due to injury, the Lancers got nearly 80 percent of their minutes from their starting five and saw Gardner-Webb's bench outscore their own 37-11. The Lancers fell into a double-digit hole with more than seven minutes remaining in the first half, and with just three players available off the bench, had little firepower to overcome a sharp-shooting Runnin' Bulldogs team that shot .540 (34-of-63) from the field for the game.
 
The game featured a showdown of two of the top guards in the Big South, as Rideau went to battle against Walton. Those two entered the game as the Big South's only two players averaging at least 10.0 points, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game, and delivered with matching stat sheet-stuffing performances. Walton went off for a team-high 20 points, three assists and three steals for the Lancers, while Rideau countered with 15 points, three assists and a game-high eight steals.
 
It was Rideau's work on the defensive end that made the difference, however, as the Runnin' Bulldogs' sophomore point guard accounted for more than half of the team's steals in just 25 minutes of action.
 
"Every team has things that they do exceptionally well, and Gardner-Webb's one of the better teams in the league at stealing the basketball," said Longwood head coach Jayson Gee. "LaQuincy Rideau, he just does a great job anticipating. When you think you're open, he's right there. I have to tip my hat to him and to their team. Rideau was really exceptional today in that area, and we just have to be more disciplined with the basketball."
 
The Big South's second-leading team in takeaways, Gardner-Webb swiped 14 steals against the Lancers and converted those into 26 points off turnovers. Rideau, who leads the conference in that category, picked off eight of those against a Lancer team whose lone remaining point guard on the active roster is freshman walk-on Dominic Ezeani.
 
Ezeani got a career-high 13 minutes of action Saturday and will continue to see significant minutes in the absence of injured point guards Bryan Gee and Juan Munoz, who are both out for the season. Those two have joined forwards Damarion Geter and Jahleem Montague on Longwood's injury report for nearly every game this season, leaving the Lancers with just seven available scholarship players.
 
Despite the absences, Longwood still remains just one game out of a top-six spot in the Big South standings and will look to make that push over their final six conference games, beginning next Thursday, Feb. 9, against Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C.
 
"You can see it in their body language that they're really wearing down, but my hat's off to our guys for continuing to fight through adversity," Gee said. "They're still being asked to do a lot with not much in the tank. We don't play against until Thursday, so with the extra day off we have, we'll probably just take Monday off to give us some time to recover mentally and physically so we can get ready for a road game at Campbell."
 
That showdown against the Fighting Camels tips off at 7 p.m. in Buies Creek, N.C. The game presents the Lancers an opportunity for a second straight season sweep after upending Campbell 79-77 in the Dec. 29 Big South opener.

#GoWood