ROCK HILL, S.C. – In a season in which they have yet to lose a game, the Big South frontrunner Winthrop Eagles have emerged as one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the country.
 
Thursday night, upset-minded Longwood become one of the few to stifle that high-powered offense, but the Eagles (12-0, 9-0 Big South) still found a way to keep their 15-game winning streak alive.
 
Despite giving the unbeaten Eagles the best defensive effort they have seen all season, the Lancers (3-12, 2-7 Big South) succumbed to the nation's No. 12 scoring offense in the final minutes and fell 72-61 Thursday evening at Winthrop Coliseum.
 
Playing on ESPNU in their third televised game of the season, Longwood held Winthrop to its lowest scoring total of the season and to under 80 points for only the third time. However, the Eagles' 72 points proved to be enough to overcome that effort and extend their winning streak to 17 games dating back to their 2020 Big South Championship season.
 
Winthrop, which entered the game receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25, now remains one of the nation's four unbeaten teams who have played at least 10 games this year.
 
"I thought this was an encouraging outing," said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. "Frankly I didn't think we played particularly well on the offensive end, and I thought we had some lapses on the defensive end, but it felt like were in the game pretty deep into the second half. We defended them well throughout the game until it got away there at the end."
 
Michael Anumba led the Eagles with 14 points and Big South assists leader Chandler Vaudrin added 13 with eight rebounds and five assists, but they did so in a defensive slugfest on both ends of the court. Longwood, which entered the game ranked as the No. 3 scoring defense in the Big South, held the Eagles to 4-of-20 shooting from three-point range for their fewest made treys since the 2017-18 season.
 
However, Winthrop matched Longwood's defensive effort by limiting the Lancers to a .333 (19-of-57) shooting clip from the floor and just four made treys of their own. True freshman Justin Hill led Longwood with 15 points, scoring 10 of those in the final 11:38 of the game.
 
"I thought we battled really well for the most part," Aldrich said. "But that's the thing – when you want to compete with the top of the league, which we do and I believe we can, your margin for error is slim. It can't be, oh I executed most of the time. It needs to be I executed 10 out of 10 times, and I made them beat us. That's what great teams do: They don't beat themselves."
 
Veteran-laden Winthrop did take advantage of Longwood's miscues, converting 15 turnovers into 17 points and scoring 12 points off second-chance points.
 
But even despite those lapses, the Lancers still managed to put Winthrop on upset alert midway through the second half when they opened up a 16-4 run that cut a 14-point deficit to 46-44 with 10:55 to play. Behind a defense that has emerged as one of the Big South's best, the Lancers held Winthrop's high-powered offense without a field goal for more than five minutes during that stretch, forcing four turnovers and four missed shots in that 10-possession span.
 
However, Winthrop would not be held down long and broke through with seven unanswered points that sparked a 21-10 run and ultimately put the game away in the closing minutes.
 
Anumba scored 10 points in that final game-winning rally, including seven straight that turned a four-point lead to double digits.
 
"Defense was the key to that run," Aldrich said. "We have a committed bunch, but again we're just still learning the importance of executing on every single play. Playing Winthrop, who's an exceptional mid-major team, the margin for error is low so your level of execution has to be high. My excitement for these guys is I do feel like they're learning that.
 
"When we think about this team, the season and even the program, the reality is we have to as a program value execution on every single possession. You have some guys, young guys, who are really starting to understand that at a deeper level. I do think we're getting better in that regard.
 
Longwood and Winthrop will square off again Friday evening at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and WVHL 92.9 FM in Farmville.
 
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