FARMVILLE, Va. – Last Saturday, Longwood learned hard lessons in a loss to rival Radford.
 
Head coach Griff Aldrich made sure his team put them to good use Thursday night against UNC Asheville.
 
Just five days after folding in the second half of a 71-64 defeat against the Big South's preseason No. 1, the Lancers (11-6, 1-1 Big South) found themselves in a similar dogfight against the Bulldogs (2-14, 0-2 Big South) but rode 12 second-half points from Shabooty Phillips and executed in the final minute to pull out a 67-62 gut-check win in Willett Hall.
 
The victory gave Aldrich his first career Big South win, improved Longwood to 7-0 at home and extended a season-long pattern of bounce backs, as the Lancers are now 5-1 in games following a loss.
 
"The thing I told the guys after the game is, 'Do I think we played our best game? No,'" Aldrich said. "We missed a lot of easy shots, a lot of shots rimmed out, but we found a way to win. That's a sign of a championship-type team, and that's a level of toughness to just find a way to win.
 
"I really credit the guys for battling, even through some adversity. It felt like we were running in mud at times, and they battled through it. I'm thrilled to get out of here with a win and move on to the next one."
 
The Bulldogs, also led by a first-year head coach in former Texas assistant Mike Morrell, got 14 points from freshman DeVon Baker, but scored on just one  of their final five possessions against Longwood's Big South-leading defense.
 
The buckle-down win pushed the Lancers over the hurdle they crashed into Saturday when they squandered a 12-point lead against the reigning Big South champions. However, Thursday night the Lancers responded to numerous go-ahead buckets by the Bulldogs, seizing control of a game that featured 11 lead changes and pulling ahead for good with 8:38 to play on the first of Sean Flood's back-to-back three-pointers.
 
Longwood's guards spearheaded that charge, accounting for 15 of the final 17 points beginning with Flood's three-pointers. Phillips scored 14 points while backcourt mates Isaiah Walton scored 12 and Jaylon Wilson 11, and Flood finished with seven points. The Lancer guards combined for 43 points, nine assists and five steals, while Phillips and Walton teamed up to knock down 16-of-18 free throws.
 
And while the points came primarily from Longwood's backcourt, forward JaShaun Smith, who overcame early foul trouble to finish with eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes, broke down the recipe for Thursday's success into three factors.
 
"Staying focused, paying attention to the details coach tells us to, and being locked in on defense," he said. "Coach talks to us every day about being mentally focused, being ready to go every time and being the attacking team. We had a couple mental lapses tonight, but we pulled through because of our defense."
 
That defense showed up when Longwood needed it, specifically in the final 1:48 after UNC Asheville cut Longwood's lead to 63-62 on a pair of free throws by DeVon Baker. Smith's ensuing drive to the basket rimmed out, giving Asheville a chance to tie the game nearing the final minute.
 
However, sixth-year senior forward Damarion Geter swatted away Baker's attempted layup on the Bulldogs' next possession, and Phillips corralled a long rebound when Cress Worthy's follow-up three-pointer was off the mark. Longwood then called timeout and got the ball to Phillips, who sliced through UNC Asheville's entire defense and laid in a contested layup that gave the Lancers a 65-62 advantage.
 
Baker then missed a layup on Asheville's next possession, sending a rebound to Walton who then fired the ball up the court to Phillips, who drew a foul and hit two free throws to ice the game.
 
"We just didn't want to lose again," Smith said. "We didn't want to keep making the same mistakes [we did against Radford] over and over, so we had to change our mentality."
 
The victory was also the first over UNC Asheville for any player and coach on Longwood's roster. The Lancers had not beaten UNC Asheville since an 87-72 win in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Big South Championship during Longwood's first year in the conference.
 
Now with their first Big South win under their belt, the Lancers have just one day of practice to prepare for their next Big South matchup, a 3 p.m. home showdown against Charleston Southern Saturday in Willett Hall. That game will be the second half of a doubleheader with Longwood's women's team, which also hosts Charleston Southern at noon.
 
Admission for Saturday's doubleheader is good for both games. Inclement weather is currently expected for Farmville and Central Virginia, and any changes to the game schedule will be made public on LongwoodLancers.com.
 
 
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