CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Malik Martin scored 17 points to power Charlotte to a 42-39 comeback win over Longwood Monday evening at Halton Arena, snapping the Lancers' season-opening four-game win streak and dealing them their first loss under head coach Griff Aldrich.
 
Martin scored seven of his 10 points in the second half to spark the 49ers (2-2) to a second-half rally in which they outscored Longwood 27-20 to overcome an 11-point deficit. Charlotte forward Dravon Magnum added nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds to help overcome a Longwood defense that held Charlotte to .262 (11-of-42) from the field and forced 17 turnovers.
 
Charlotte matched Longwood on the defensive end as well, holding the Lancers (4-1) to their lowest field goal percentage of the season at .350 (14-of-40) and forcing them into a season-high 21 turnovers. Leading scorer Isaiah Walton committed 11 of those, offsetting a 12-point, 10-rebound night that was his second double-double of the season.
 
"Charlotte played really great defense," said Aldrich, whose 4-1 start still remains Longwood's best since the 2000-01 Lancers opened the year 7-0.
 
"They kept us out of the lane the entire night. They really frustrated us, and I think that was very evident on the court, both by our play and our shot selection. We forced a lot of stuff there, but what we told these guys was it's a long season. While we of course want to win each and every game we play, and expect to win, at the same time the goal here is to get better each time out. Tonight, I'm not sure we did that, but you have to use this as a learning opportunity."
 
Led by four steals from Martin, Charlotte laid a speed bump in front of Longwood's up-tempo offense and forced the Lancers into a season-high 21 turnovers while holding them to a season-low 45 field goal attempts and just five tries from the free throw line.
 
"Against a pack-line defense as good as theirs, they're filling the lane, especially on Isaiah [Walton]," Aldrich said. "You just can't get to the lane, so you have to share it and you have to move it, pass and drive. When we drove and kicked it and then drove again, good things happened. We just didn't get many of those tonight, and some of that's their defense, and some of it's our mental lapses."
 
Longwood overcame those mental lapses in the first half thanks to a season-best defensive effort that held the 49ers to just 3-of-16 shooting from the floor and 1-of-9 from three-point range. Longwood rode that performance, and seven first-half points from Lorenzo Phillips, to a 19-15 halftime lead and extended that advantage to double digits with a 7-0 run to start the second half.
 
However, Charlotte began its second-half comeback immediately after that second-half-opening run, scoring nine straight points to cut the lead to one. Cooper Robb knocked down five points during that stretch, including the jumper that sparked the rally and the three-pointer that cut Longwood's lead to one possession.
 
"Credit to [Charlotte head coach Ron Sanchez] for making a nice adjustment in the second half," Aldrich said. "He went small, and they went from 1-for-9 from three in the first half to 5-for-13 in the second half. He put more perimeter players on the court, but at the same time, they made 11 field goals and at least two, maybe three or four, were stickbacks where we played 25 seconds of good defense and we don't finish the play by boxing out. That's a lack of discipline; you must be excellent throughout the entire possession, and we didn't do that."`
 
Charlotte's new-look lineup took its first lead of the game on a three-pointer from Martin with 10:27 remaining in the second half and then claimed the lead for good 50 seconds later when Martin hit another three. That lead swelled to as many as eight points before Longwood fought back to within two, cutting the score to 41-39 on a steal and layup by Walton with 39 seconds remaining.
 
Charlotte's Jon Davis then missed a jumper on the next possession that Walton grabbed, but Longwood's shot at tying the game ended prematurely when Walton, defensive rebound in hand, called for a timeout Longwood didn't have. Instead he was called for a technical foul that allowed Davis to hit one of two free throws, extending the lead to 42-39 and giving Longwood the ball back with just 12 seconds on the clock.
 
Walton got the ball back once more and tried for a game-tying three-pointer, but his shot fell short off the front of the rim.
 
Longwood will now gear up for its most grueling stretch of the season, playing three games in three days at the Elgin Baylor Invitational in Seattle, Wash., on Nov. 23-25. The Lancers open the four-team tournament on Nov. 23 against Fairfield at 6 p.m. EST and follow with a 3 p.m. matchup against Denver on Nov. 24 and a 6 p.m. finale against host Seattle on Nov. 25.
 
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