SEATTLE, Wash. – Friday night Longwood found itself in unfamiliar territory, returning to the court after its first loss of the season.
 
Compounding the scenario was the absence of leading scorer Isaiah Walton, who was unavailable for the day-one matchup against Fairfield in Seattle's Elgin Baylor Classic, along with his 19.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
 
But the Lancers hurdled both of those obstacles, displaying the toughness and grit that has trademarked their historic start to the 2018-19 season, and outlasted the Stags 67-65 at the RedHawk Center to improve to 5-1 on the year and extend the best start of the program's 15-year Division I era.
 
The latest chapter in Longwood's storybook beginning to head coach Griff Aldrich's first season saw the Lancers take the court against Fairfield (1-4) three time zones away from home and pull away from a 55-55 deadlock with 4:29 remaining. Led by junior guard Seán Flood's 19-point breakout, Longwood never trailed in the second half, took the lead for good on a three-point play by Spencer Franklin, and hit 8-of-9 free throws down the stretch to ice the two-point win.
 
That effort was enough to survive Fairfield's four double-figure scorers, led by Landon Taliaferro, who drained five three-pointers on the way to a team-high 19 points.
 
"This really was a team win," Aldrich said. "Without Isaiah on the court, in some ways, other guys feel like they have to step up rather than just deferring. I think we saw that tonight. I'm really, really proud of these guys."
 
Aldrich had much to be proud of throughout the lineup, but most of all from Flood, the Dublin, Ireland, native who was part of Aldrich's first signing class at the helm of Longwood's program. In only his second career start, Flood delivered the best performance of his fledging Division I career, finishing 6-of-7 from the field and adding career highs with four three-pointers, five rebounds and three assists.
 
Flood's junior classmates Lorenzo Phillips and JaShaun Smith combined for 43 points to help the Lancers gut out a win that featured nine lead changes, but not a single one in the second half. Those three spearheaded a 50-percent shooting effort from the Lancers, who hit 23-of-46 shots from the field to overcome 19 turnovers.
 
"I thought they shared the ball well," said Aldrich, whose Lancers racked up double-digit assists for the fifth time this season.
 
"Especially really in the first half, I thought the ball was moving really well. I didn't think we shot it really well from three, but the ball was moving well, and we hit big shots when we needed them."
 
Now 5-1 under Aldrich, the Lancers have won at least five of their first six games for only the seventh time in school history and first time since making the jump to the Division I level in 2004-05. The 5-1 start marks the program's first five-win November since 1990-91 and only the third in school history.
 
But like the previous four, Longwood's most recent win was not without its blemishes, as the Lancers built an eight-point lead at the 14:21 mark in the second half only to have Fairfield fight back to tie the score at 55-55 with 4:29 left to play.
 
"We had a few stretches where we didn't handle the ball screen defense," Aldrich said. "I thought we had some game slippage – you can see it on the offensive end where we had a couple turnovers in a row, and then on the defensive end you make discipline mistakes too. That's something we talk to our guys about – look, if you're not focused on the offensive end, you can't run past the half court line and then all of a sudden be disciplined. It's really on both ends."
 
During a back-and-forth closing four-and-a-half minutes, Fairfield kept the game within five points and cut the lead to one with eight seconds left when Taliaferro nailed a three-pointer make it 65-64. However, it was once again Phillips who came through in the clutch for Longwood, absorbing a desperation foul and hitting both free throws seconds later to extend the lead back to three and improve his Big South-leading free throw percentage to .944 (17-of-18).
 
Fairfield earned one last chance to tie the game in the closing seconds when Aidas Kavaliauskas drew a foul in transition and was awarded three shots after officials deemed him in shooting motion when he collided with Flood after crossing half court. Trailing 67-64, Kavaliauskas hit the first of those but missed the final two to seal the win for Longwood in regulation.
 
Now the Lancers will have fewer than 24 hours to prep for their second matchup of the Elgin Baylor Classic, which pits them against Denver (1-3) Saturday at 3 p.m. EST.
 
"You just have to battle through," Aldrich said of the three-day tournament format. "This is when you trust that their 18-to-22-year-old bodies can handle it. But these guys, this is what they live for. They're with their buddies, they're in a hotel, they just got a big win and probably getting texts and calls from home."
 
Saturday's game will be the second of three at the four-team tournament, the last of which will feature Longwood against host Seattle Sunday at 6 p.m. EST.
 
 "We're excited, and now it's time to turn our focus to Denver. We'll have a big one tomorrow at noon."
 
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