FARMVILLE, Va. – For the fourth time in the past six games, resurgent Longwood found a way to win. This time, it just took the entire lineup to do it.
 
In the latest victory in a 2020 surge that has seen the Lancers go 4-2 since Jan. 25, freshman Heru Bligen broke up Campbell's in-bounds pass with 1.2 seconds left to cap a game-changing defensive effort and secure a 57-56 Big South win in Willett Hall.
 
Stepping up in the absence of injured starting point guard Juan Munoz, Bligen contributed eight points, three assists, two steals and the game-sealing play at the buzzer to help Longwood (10-16, 5-8 Big South) lock up its latest win in a 2020 surge that has seen them go 4-2 since a Jan. 25 victory at High Point.
 
"This was a team win," head coach Griff Aldrich said. "We had contributions from a lot of different people tonight. Winthrop came in here Saturday, and they found a way to win. That's what really good teams do. To be honest, I think that's what we did tonight.
 
"We were playing without Juan Munoz, Shabooty [Phillips] goes 0-for-5 from three, but we found a way to win. We didn't have our best consistency this game, with a few lapses, but we found a way to win."
 
Bligen was part of a team-wide effort that saw Longwood take down last year's Big South runner-up Fighting Camels (12-13, 3-10 Big South) without a single double-digit scorer. Four Lancers – Leslie Nkereuweum, Shabooty Phillips, JaShaun Smith and Christian Wilson – finished with nine points, while Bligen added eight and DeShaun Wade chipped in seven.
 
The Lancers committed a season-low six turnovers and made their biggest difference on the defensive end where they held Campbell to just one made field goal over the game's final six minutes. That effort was enough to protect a lead that Longwood reclaimed for good, 43-42, when Wilson hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 13:24 to play. That trey was the first of three straight from the Lancers during an 11-0 run that turned a five-point deficit into a seven-point lead.
 
"They know we weren't consistent throughout, but they also understand we've turned the page a little bit," Aldrich said. "Now we're the team that found a way to win. I think this team on a daily basis is gaining confidence. At our shootarounds, today we have the music going, everybody's laughing, they're very vocal and loud. It's a fun group right now.
 
"To think where this team has been and where we are today – I understand what our record says, I understand where we are in the standings in the Big South, but these guys are battling. They're playing really hard, and they're competing. It's just a fun way to play and a fun way to coach. I'm excited for them."
 
Campbell senior guard Cory Gensler, long a thorn in Longwood's side in the series, paced the Camels with 15 points, though 12 of those coming in the first 16 minutes of the game. He hit just 1-of-4 field goals the rest of the way, with his last bucket a three-pointer coming with 2:19 to play that cut Longwood's lead to 57-54. However, the Lancers forced three turnovers the rest of the way, including a steal by Nkereuweum on an in-bounds pass with six seconds left, and Bligen's swat at the buzzer.
 
Those back-to-back defensive plays by Longwood's freshmen sealed the win and were the latest peeks at the future of a Lancer program that Aldrich and his staff have been building since he was named head coach in March of 2018. The future of the program took center stage in the most crucial moments of Saturday's game when the freshmen Bligen and Nkereuwem joined sophomores DeShaun Wade and Christian Wilson and senior Shabooty Phillips for the final 3:22.
 
Those closing minutes sealed the win, with Nkereuweum making a contested layup to extend Longwood's lead to 57-51 and the Lancer defense bouncing back from Gensler's ensuing three-pointer on the next possession to hold the Fighting Camels to just two points the rest of the way.
 
"They were outstanding," Aldrich said of Bligen and Nkereuweum. "I've said this to anybody who will listen: Heru and Leslie, one of the main reasons we recruited them was they were the two guys we saw who competed the most, who played with the most energy and juice. You saw that tonight. Heru got two deflections on the last two plays. He had eight points, but those buckets were big. He just really stepped up.
 
"Really, anybody who's interested in the future of Longwood basketball should look at those last few minutes. We had two sophomores and two freshmen on the court at the end. I'm really excited for those guys."
 
Bligen and Nkereuweum rewarded Aldrich's faith in them by spoiling Campbell's last two possessions in the game's final six seconds. The first of those game-clinching defensive stands came on Campbell's in-bounds play from the sideline with six seconds left, which saw Bligen swat the entry pass back to in-bounder Ricky Clemons. Clemons, with time ticking away, drove to the basket and straight into the chest of Phillips, who stripped the ball into Nkereuweum's hands for a steal.
 
That play gave possession back to Longwood temporarily, but Campbell regained it after Nkereuweum missed the front end of a one-and-one to return the ball to the Camels with 1.2 seconds left and the length of the floor to travel. That play met the same fate as the one prior, however, as Bligen telegraphed the pass to midcourt and cut the ball off just in time to swat it back the other way as time expired.
 
The win signals the end of a three-game homestand for Longwood as well as a stretch of three games within the past five days. Longwood will now get a three-day break to prepare for a road trip to high-scoring UNC Asheville this Thursday, Feb. 13.
 
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