FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood brought plenty of offensive firepower to Willett Hall Wednesday night. Hampton just brought more.
Behind 22 points from the Big South's No. 2 leading scorer Jermaine Marrow, the Big South newcomer Pirates (10-10, 5-2 Big South) outgunned Longwood 96-83 Wednesday evening to hand the Lancers (13-11, 3-6 Big South) only their third home loss of the season.
Hampton, new to the Big South this year after establishing itself as a perennial championship contender in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, entered the game as the Big South's second-leading offense and followed through to continue its climb up the Big South standings. Preseason All-Big South guard Marrow and fellow backcourt mate Kalin Fisher led that charge, with Marrow adding seven assists to his 22 points and Fisher dishing a game-high eight assists along with his 17 points.
All five Hampton starters scored in double digits, including forward Trevond Barnes who logged a double-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
That effort was enough to outpace a Longwood (13-11, 3-6 Big South) team that got a pair of career scoring performances from juniors Shabooty Phillips and JaShaun Smith. Phillips shot 9-of-17 en route to a career-high 25 points – adding five assists and no turnovers – while Smith matched career highs with 20 points and four three-pointers.
However, their 20-point nights and 15 three-pointers from Longwood weren't enough to keep up with the Pirates, who won their third straight to climb into a tie for third place in the Big South.
"We just weren't there mentally. We weren't focused on the defensive end," Smith said.
"They got 93 points. We were top-20 in the nation defensively, and we let an average team score 93 points on us. We weren't together as a whole on defense. We hit a couple shots and we had a couple runs, but it doesn't matter if you can't stop the other team."
Hampton became only the sixth team this season to top 80 points against Longwood, which came into the game as the Big South leader in opponent scoring and opponent field goal percentage.
The game featured several exchanges of runs, with Longwood rallying from an early 12-point deficit to take a 32-31 lead on Phillips' three-pointer with 6:05 left in the first half. However, the Pirates countered that 13-0 run with an 11-0 run of their own to reclaim the lead for good.
"Conference play is always harder, but honestly, it's just us," Smith said. "I just feel like we have to continue to get better and focus every game. The games we've focused and when we have good effort, we usually come out with a win. If we play good defense, I feel like we can beat any team in the conference."
Smith and Phillips became the first Longwood players to both score 20 points in the same game since Phillips and Isaiah Walton did it in a 110-94 win at The Citadel on Dec. 30. However, Walton was unavailable Wednesday after head coach Griff Aldrich announced his indefinite suspension due to failure to meet team expectations in a press release earlier in the day.
Despite the absence of their leading scorer, Longwood committed a season-low six turnovers, less than half of the 14.9 giveaways per game they averaged entering the game.
Hampton did its damage elsewhere, though, winning the rebounding battle 35-23 and knocking down 20-of-26 free throws. The Pirates secured the game early in the second half when they hit their first seven field goal attempts to turn an 11-point halftime lead to 66-43 fewer than four minutes into the second half. Fisher hit the first four of those – three jumpers and a layup – before Akim Mitchell took the torch and hit back-to-back three-pointers.
Mitchell was nearly perfect from the field and hit all four three-pointers he took during his team-high 39 minutes of action.
"At some point you have to say enough is enough, and we didn't do that tonight," said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. "Throughout, I thought our guys played really hard, but at some point it's like a tug of war – it's not enough to just play hard. You have to come up with the loose balls, you have to come up with the defensive rebounds, you have to say ok yeah this guy's a center, but I'm not letting him shoot comfortable threes."
Five Hampton players hit multiple three-pointers, including four apiece from Marrow and Mitchell and a combined 6-of-7 from long range from Trey Carver and Barnes. The 16 made three-pointers match the most Longwood has allowed in a game this season, dating back to Cornell's 16-of-32 shooting performance in a December loss.
"At some point you have to say, ok they're making shots but I have to ratchet it up a notch," Aldrich said. "My effort, my grittiness, my toughness, my competitiveness must elevate because they're having their way. It's just not enough to continue to play hard and continue to allow the opponent to do what they want to do."
Now coming off back-to-back losses for only the third time this season, Longwood will head to Buies Creek, N.C., this weekend for a Saturday showdown against Campbell and reigning Big South Player of the Year Chris Clemons. That game will tip off at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
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