RADFORD, Va. – Longwood had the champ on the mat. Radford just refused to stay down.
 
The reigning Big South champion Highlanders (9-6) withstood hit after hit from the upset-minded Lancers and rode a game-high 24 points from Carlik Jones to a 71-64 comeback win in the Big South opener Saturday afternoon at the Dedmon Center.
 
In a showdown between the Big South preseason favorite Radford and the surprise upstart Lancers (10-6), Longwood appeared poised to deliver a Big South upset on the opening weekend of conference play, holding the lead for the first 36 minutes of the game and building as large as a 12-point advantage in the second half.
 
However, the Highlanders – led by Preseason All-Big South pick Jones and a three-block effort from runner-up Preseason Player of the Year Ed Polite Jr. – withstood Longwood's knockout blows and mounted a 31-12 run over the game's final 10 minutes. That run erased Longwood's lead for good with 3:56 to play and sent Radford to its eighth straight win over a Big South opponent.
 
The loss is Longwood's first in the state of Virginia under first-year head coach Griff Aldrich.
 
"We really executed poorly there at the end," Aldrich said. "We were sloppy defensively, missed several of our tags on the roll-man. We were blowing our gaps and left guys open. We didn't front the post and just let them throw it right in there.
 
"We got sloppy there, and then offensively in the second half, other than a few possessions we were really out of sync. And credit to Radford – I thought they really picked up their defense in the second half. They made it a lot more difficult to get what we wanted."
 
The Lancers led 52-40 with 10 minutes to play, but Jones scored 11 points the rest of the way, and the Highlanders took advantage of numerous trips to the line by knocking down 13-of-13 free throws. Jones hit the game-tying jumper with 3:56 with to play, and Donald Hicks followed with a go-ahead jumper of his own that gave Radford the lead for good.
 
The comeback preserved Radford's undefeated 6-0 home record and soured what would have been the latest underdog win by a Longwood team that has reached 10 wins faster than any Lancer squad since 2000-01. However, the Lancers' 11th win of the year was undone by foul trouble that disqualified three players, including starters Spencer Franklin and Jaylon Wilson and leading scorer Isaiah Walton.
 
"I didn't think we played particularly well today," Aldrich said. "We made some shots in the first half, but I didn't think we played particularly well, as well as we could have.
 
"The message to our guys is, the good news is you've proven you can play with the number one team in the conference on their floor and maybe come out with a victory if you execute better. The bad news is you need to be held to that standard."
 
That foul trouble also gave Radford a sizable advantage at the line where they shot 29-of-38 compared to Longwood's 8-of-12. That discrepancy played out even larger in the second half when the Highlanders converted 18-of-21 free throws and hit 15 straight.
 
The 38 free throws were the most Longwood has allowed since George Washington took 39 on Nov. 26, 2014, and the most the Lancers have ever allowed in a Big South game.
 
Those free throws and Radford's end-game run allowed the Highlanders to overcome a second straight double-double from Walton, who led the team with 14 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 56 seconds to play.
 
"We need to sharpen up on details on our side, and we need to be more execution-oriented defensively," Aldrich said. "Every single possession matters, and you can't, against a championship-level team, turn the ball over on a break. Those types of plays, you can't have."
 
Longwood had just one double-digit scorer for the first time all season, succumbing to a Radford defense that entered the game second in the Big South in opponent scoring average behind only Longwood. The Highlanders won the defensive battle by holding the Lancers to 10-of-27 (.370) shooting in the second half and .308 (4-of-13) from beyond the arc.
 
Longwood countered by limiting Radford to just four three-pointers on 22 attempts and suffocating Polite to just six points on 2-of-4 shooting, his lowest scoring output of the season. However, the senior forward made his impact elsewhere, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking three shots, including one on a potential game-tying layup by Phillips with 2:24 to play.
 
"We talked to the guys and said the reason Alabama is elite in football is because [head coach Nick Saban] is maniacal about the details," Aldrich said. "Every single detail matters; everything matters. Yeah he has great players, but a lot of teams have great players. Clemson has great players. Georgia has great players, Texas A&M, Texas. They all have great players, but the little things, if you do them over and over again well, that's going to show up on the scoreboard.
 
"I think it's important to continue to get our guys to buy into an understanding and gain an appreciation that they have to execute on every single detail. It's exhausting, but the reality is that's what championship teams do. They execute."
 
Longwood will have a chance to rebound this Thursday, Jan. 10, when UNC Asheville comes to Willett Hall for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
 
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