WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State seemingly couldn't miss from three, and Longwood paid the price on Saturday. The Shockers (5-4) hit a season-best 13 threes to take down the Lancers (5-5).
 
Four players scored in double figures for Wichita State, with Jaron Pierre Jr. posting a season-best 20 points on 8-17 shooting from the floor.
 
Craig Porter, the team's leading scorer, added 16 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Jaykwon Walton added 18 points, and Melvion Flanagan provided a spark with 14 points in his first game since the season opener.
 
For Longwood, Nate Lliteras had 11 points while Walyn Napper added 10 points and five assists. Michael Christmas added seven points and a team-best 10 rebounds as the Lancers were playing without the injured DA Houston and Leslie Nkereuwem. Christmas had seven offensive rebounds.
 
"I thought it was a disappointing performance by the Lancers," said fifth-year Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. "We pride ourselves on being a competitive team and being the toughest team. We clearly were not tonight. It's something that's within your control. I thought our guys came out, played well for 10 minutes, and then were a different team after that. We didn't play with energy. We didn't play with activity. There was a stretch until about five or six minutes left where Wichita State was getting every loose ball and offensive rebound. I didn't think we competed at a very high level."
 
At the start of the game, Longwood came out hot. Over the first nine minutes, a balanced, aggressive Lancer attack jumped out to a 17-8 lead. Six different players scored in that stretch for a Longwood team playing its third straight game on the road. Lliteras drained a three that pushed the lead to nine with 10:59 to play in the first half.
 
However, Wichita State battled back with a lockdown defense that limited the Lancers to three made field goals for the final 11 minutes of the half.
 
Meanwhile, Flanagan drained a three that opened up the floodgates for the Shockers team that came in shooting 27 percent from three on the season. Wichita State hit six of its last eight threes of the first half to take a 14-point lead at the break. Porter and Pierre played big roles during that run, as the duo combined for 29 points in the firs half.
 
After halftime, the Shockers hit seven more threes that fended off any Longwood run. Walton had 15 of his 18 in the final 20 minutes.
 
Jesper Granlund had nine points for Longwood after halftime, and Christmas and Lliteras worked the glass. The duo combined for eight offensive boards in the game.
 
"We need Nate to be like that every day," Aldrich said. "That's who we have to be as a team. We can't have one or two players be that way, we have to have all five. Those two guys stood out because they were active.
 
"That's Longwood basketball, but we didn't have that today. We had too many guys who were reactive. We were coming in and playing against a Top 100 Wichita State team, and that's not going to work. If you can't outcompete your opponent in a game their supposed to win, it's going to be a long night."
 
Longwood stays on the road for a fourth straight game with a trip to St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday. Tip is set for 2 p.m. The game will be aired on NEC Front Row as well as on the radio at WVHL 92.9 Kickin' Country.
 
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