RICHMOND, Va. – Longwood brought its own cheering section to Richmond's home court in the Robins Center.
 
The Lancers made sure it was worth the trip.
 
Led by 23 points from Isaiah Walton, a game-winning three-pointer from Lorenzo Phillips, and a stifling defensive effort – and backed by a loud Longwood cheering section directly behind the visitor's bench – Longwood stunned Commonwealth foe Richmond 63-58 to improve to 2-0 under first-year head coach Griff Aldrich.
 
The win was Longwood's first over Richmond in program history, snapping a four-game losing streak to the Spiders (0-1) and giving Aldrich a signature win just two weeks into his first season as a college head coach.
 
"This is a great win for our program," said Aldrich, who took over Longwood's program in March after helping his former college teammate and current UMBC head coach Ryan rebuild the Retrievers into an America East Champion and NCAA Tournament darling in 2018.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of our guys right now; less with the winning, and more with their level of competitiveness. That's something we've really tried to focus on since I've arrived: To compete, have grit, maintain our focus and play with a high level of effort. And to Richmond's credit, they made several good runs, and I'm just really proud of our guys for not losing their focus, being able to regain that and come back and compete."
 
Richmond tested Longwood's resolve at multiple points in the game, but Longwood responded each time. After staking a 34-33 halftime lead, the Lancers found themselves in a hole after the Spiders came out of the break with eight unanswered points. However, Longwood bounced back to go on an 8-0 run of their own and tie the game, setting the stage for a nail-biting final nine minutes that saw the score tied twice more and the lead change hands on both sides.
 
Phillips played hero twice during that span, first tying the game with a three-pointer with 8:44 left to cap the 8-0 Lancer run. He came through with an even bigger bucket with 1:10 on the clock when he knocked down his third three of the game, a long-range bomb that broke a 56-56 tie and put Longwood ahead for good.
 
Richmond cut the lead to two points on the next possession when Preseason All-Atlantic 10 forward Grant Golden drew a foul and hit one of his two free throws, and Richmond stole more momentum when Jacob Gilyard stole the ball from Phillips on Longwood's next inbounds play. However, the Lancers responded by forcing Gilyard into a dribbling violation, which forced Richmond to play foul-ball over the final 23 seconds.
 
Phillips made up for his earlier turnover by hitting two free throws that extended Longwood's lead to four points, and Jordan Cintron and Walton hit one more free throw apiece in the final nine seconds to ice the victory.
 
After Walton tied the game at 56-56 with a jumper in the paint, Longwood stopped Richmond on 10 of their final 15 possessions. Senior forward Spencer Franklin had two key blocks on back-to-back Spider possessions, stuffing Golden at 2:22 and Nathan Cayo at 1:38 to keep the score deadlocked. His second block initiated the sequence that led to Phillips' game-winning three-pointer, which came on a second-chance opportunity after Walton grabbed an offensive rebound from JaShaun Smith's missed three-pointer.
 
"We tried to do a bunch of stuff," Aldrich said of Longwood's defense, which held Richmond to .383 (23-of-60) shooting from the field and .231 (6-of-26) from three-point range.
 
"One thing, we tried to crowd the floor. Their back cuts and their movement, it's very good. We actually scrimmaged William & Mary a couple weeks ago, and while they're not the same, they do similar things – we call them come-togethers or kiss-cuts. Honestly that was great preparation for us. But defensively I thought trying to crowd the floor and not allow any back cuts, I'm not sure they got a bucket on a back-cut tonight. That was a real emphasis for us. We really just said if they're going to beat us, they're going to beat us with contested threes."
 
That strategy played out in the second half, as Richmond's shooting percentages lowered to .313 (10-of-32) from the field and .154 (2-of-13) from long range after halftime.
 
Gilyard led Richmond with 15 points, while Golden finished with 14 and Nick Sherod added 11.
 
Now buoyed by the momentum of a 2-0 start, the Lancers head to Princess Anne, Md., this Tuedsay where they will face MEAC member Maryland-Eastern Shore at 7 p.m.
 
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