ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Big South Coach of the Year Mike Jones said Longwood threw everything at his team, even the kitchen sink.
Â
Against Big South regular-season runner-up Radford, it wasn't enough.
Â
No. 2 seed Radford (20-12) survived a Cinderella effort from the upset-minded Lancers, taking the lead on a go-ahead three-pointer by Donald Hicks with 34 seconds remaining and holding on for a 59-53 win in the quarterfinal round of the Big South Championship Saturday afternoon at Kimmel Arena.
Â
"We as coaches knew Longwood wasn't going to go quietly into the night," said Jones, who was voted by Big South coaches and media as Coach of the Year after leading the Highlanders to a 12-6 conference record and a second-place finish. "I think our guys figured that out as they went along."
Â
In a back-and-forth barn burner in which Longwood (7-26) traded the lead nine times with Radford, Hicks' three-pointer in the final minute gave the Highlanders the lead for good and secured Radford's spot in Friday's Big South Championship semifinals against the winner of No. 3 seed Winthrop and No. 6 seed Gardner-Webb.
Â
The Highlanders earned that trip to the semis by outlasting a re-energized Longwood team that entered Thursday's quarterfinals on the momentum of a 68-55 upset over No. 7 seed High Point in the first round Tuesday. Longwood seniors
B.K. Ashe and
Charles Glover both put forth Herculean efforts in their final games together, matching each other with 15 points and combining for 15 rebounds and three assists.
Â
Behind the swan songs from Ashe and Glover, Longwood kept pace with the Highlanders in the first half before mounting a 14-4 run after halftime that put the Lancers ahead 43-38 with under 10 minutes to play.
Â
Fifth-year junior
Damarion Geter contributed a double-digit effort of his own, scoring 13 points and throwing down a game-tying dunk against Radford big man Randy Phillips that knotted the score at 53-53 with 53 seconds left in the game.
Â
Â
However, Hicks responded to Geter's power-move slam with a clutch three-pointer with 34 seconds left to give Radford the lead for good. The Lancers created a chance to tie the game on their next possession, but Ashe's potential game-tying three bounced off the rim.
Â
"I thought tonight our guys really competed," said Longwood head coach
Jayson Gee. "We had a gameplan to win the game. Foul trouble dictated a lot of things, with B.K. getting his second foul in the first half, Isaiah [Walton] getting his second in the first half and his third early. But what these guys did without our two best players on the court at crucial junctures of the game really says a lot about their resilience.
Â
"I'm proud of my guys. What they displayed in the tournament is who they really are."
Â
Â
That fight brought Longwood to within a minute of knocking off the tournament's two-seed, but after Hicks' three-pointer, Radford went on to convert 3-of-4 free throws and survived another missed three-pointer from Ashe and a blocked layup by Geter to lock up the victory.
Â
Hicks finished with a game-high 16 points for Radford, while All-Big South first-team forward Ed Polite Jr. and Big South Freshman of the Year Carlik Jones added 13 points apiece. Polite also added four steals to front a defensive effort that saw Radford outscore Longwood 18-2 off turnovers.
Â
Radford also took advantage of a sizable discrepancy at the free throw line, drawing 27 free throw attempts compared to just five for Longwood. The Highlanders knocked down 19 of those, including 11-of-16 in the second half.
Â
The quarterfinal loss signals the end of the 2017-18 season for the Lancers, who will say goodbye to their lone seniors Ashe and Glover. Both transfers to Longwood from Mount St. Mary's, they finish the year as Longwood's No. 2 and No. 3 scorer as well as among the team's top three in assists and steals.
Â
Â
"I'm super proud of our guys," Gee said. "We challenged them last Sunday that there was another season and talked about what they were capable of doing. I was really, really proud of how they regrouped and fought. They've had to fight all year."
Â
Ashe concludes his collegiate career with 1,432 points, including 426 in his lone season on the court as a Lancer. Meanwhile, Glover caps his career with his best season as a collegian, setting career highs in nearly every category and doing so in Longwood blue and white.
Â
#GoWood
