FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood fans have seen the best of their Lancers in Willett Hall this season. Saturday against Morgan State, that trend continued.
 
In their sixth home win by at least 24 points this season, the Lancers (6-4) dismantled the Bears 94-55 behind matching 21-point outbursts from guards Justin Hill and DeShaun Wade. The win pushed Longwood's home record to 6-1 and continued a month-long trend of home-court dominance that has seen the Lancers outscore their opposition by an average of 27.7 points on Jerome Kersey Court.
 
"I thought our guys competed very well tonight," said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich, who has the Lancers ranked among the top 40 nationally in assists per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, and offensive rebounds per game, and among the top two in the Big South in both scoring offense and defense.
 
"We were extremely crisp on the defensive end. I thought they made it very hard for Morgan State throughout the night to score. There was a little blip at the start of the second half for maybe two or three minutes when we were trading baskets with them and it was turning more into a pickup game. There was a timeout, and we reeled off six stops in a row and blew it open."
 
Hill and Wade led the way in the Lancers' latest home-court rout, combining to shoot 13-of-21 from the floor, 7-of-10 from three-point range and a near-perfect 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Hill carried the scoring load in the first half with 15 points, and Wade took over after halftime with 11 more.
 
The performance was Wade's second 20-point game of the season and Hill's first, and gave Longwood two 20-point scorers in the same game for the first time since Shabooty Phillips and Jaylon Wilson went for 24 apiece against The Citadel on Dec. 19, 2019.
 
"Both DeShaun and Justin are really hard workers at their game," Aldrich said. "People see DeShaun and Justin come out here and make shots, but what they don't see is that after a two-hour practice DeShaun and Justin stay out here and shoot another 200 threes to get better. They're not the only two, but the dramatic improvement that I've seen in both of those guys since their arrival to Longwood is really remarkable."
 
Longwood's 94 points were the most Morgan State (4-6) has allowed this season, while the Bears' 55 points were the second-fewest scored by the MEAC's third-leading scoring team this season.
 
DA Houston and Isaiah Wilkins also scored 10 points apiece and Longwood hit 11 three-pointers for a second straight game, but the Lancer defense was equally dominant on the other end of the floor. Holding Morgan State to .328 (20-of-61) shooting from the field and .200 (6-of-30) from three-point range, the Lancers had double-digit scoring advantages in both halves and led for the final 35:35.
 
Twenty-five of Longwood's points came off turnovers, as the Lancers forced 17 giveaways and had nine different players record a steal.
 
"This reminded me more of the American and UMBC games with the defensive effort," Aldrich said, referencing Longwood's back-to-back wins of 82-42 over American and 82-55 over UMBC at the Jerome Kersey Classic on Nov. 19-20.
 
"We were really sharp. There was purpose behind how they were playing. They were really committed to trying to execute, and I thought they did a great job. Morgan State is very talented team; as you saw, they made a bunch of nice shots, but I can't think of many that were uncontested. I'm really proud of the guys."
 
That defensive prowess sparked two separate double-digit scoring runs, with the first a game-breaking 17-0 surge in the first half that turned a 9-8 deficit into a 22-9 lead, and the second a 14-0 rally that increased Longwood's lead to 69-32 with 12:35 to play.
 
Trevor Moore was Morgan State's only double-digit scorer with 10 points. Malik Miller neared a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds, but the Bears' starting frontcourt tandem of Lagio Grantsaan and Myles Douglas went scoreless on a combined 0-of-8 shooting.
 
Longwood also won the rebounding battle 51-28 with Nate Lliteras setting a career high for a second straight game with eight rebounds, Wilkins and Jesper Granlund contributing seven apiece, and Granlund hauling in a career-high five offensive rebounds.
 
With two straight home wins, the Lancers are one win away from sweeping a three-game homestand and will get that opportunity this Tuesday, Dec. 14, against Carolina University at 7 p.m.
 
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