FARMVILLE, Va. – Defensive grit and togetherness on offense keyed Longwood men's basketball in the team's conference opener on New Year's Eve against Winthrop.
 
Longwood (9-7, 1-0 Big South) muscled home 44 points in the paint, snared 14 offensive rebounds, and had four players score in double figures to win 82-70 at the Joan Perry Brock Center.
 
Redd Thompson, Jr. led the way with 15 points off the bench, and Jacoi Hutchinson added 14 more. Elijah Tucker and Jaylen Benard matched each other with 12 points apiece, and Tucker added nine rebounds.
 
But it was the team's defense that played an equally important role. While Logan Duncomb had 31 points and 13 rebounds for Winthrop (8-8, 0-1 Big South), the Lancers held the rest of Winthrop's roster to 8-46 shooting from the floor and 5-24 shooting from downtown.

"It was a great battle and a great test for both us and Winthrop coming here," said Longwood Head Coach Ronnie Thomas. "It was a great college basketball game, and I think one of the good parts was, we had 10 guys who don't know what the Big South's about. And I think playing a game like this, to understand the physicality, the ability you've got to have to execute, and how it comes down to the end of the game, and the discipline you've got to have, to have the will to win, all that came into tonight."
 
The game felt tight throughout, although Longwood led for much of the night.
 
The two sides traded blows early on over the first four minutes, and then the Lancers went on a 9-0 run to build the first meaningful lead for either side. Turns out it was the last time the lead would change as well.

"Sharing the ball. The ball was popping, and everybody was touching it, and then the ball was going in for us today," Tucker said after the Lancers shot better than 50 percent for the game. All glory to God, and we've got to keep doing the same thing."

Tucker sank a jumper, and the defense held Winthrop without a bucket for a two-minute stretch. Thompson capped the run with a triple for a 17-9 lead with 13 minutes to go in the half.

The sophomore sank another three with 4:34 to go in the half to extend the lead to 31-21, but Winthrop hung around thanks to Duncomb's 13 points in the first half as the Lancers led 38-29 at the break.

"I think our effort was great," said Thomas. "That's all its been about for us, trying to keep it simple for these guys. As mature of guys as I think we have, I think they are at their best when it is simple. We've been talking about effort and together. If we play with a sense of effort and that's on both ends, and we play together sharing the basketball, we can be a special group. We've taken lessons to learn that."
 
After halftime, Tucker and Johan Nziemi, who had nine points and nine rebounds, scored the first four points of the second half to extend the lead to 13, but Duncomb dragged Winthrop back.
 
The big man muscled home 18 points after halftime, but a connected Lancer group always had the answer on offense, whether it was Hutchinson, Thompson or Tucker, and the defense held Winthrop to 38 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.

The Lancers continued to run the Eagles off the three-point line, limiting a side that had hit at least 10 threes in 11 games this season to five total on the night and three after halftime.

"They want to shoot threes, and we stopped them from doing that," Tucker said. "They weren't making them. They made a few, but they want to shoot the three and need to make the threes...We just have to keep doing that, playing together, and helping the guy that's guarding the ball is a big thing for us."
 
Duncomb scored five straight points to trim the Longwood lead to 66-61 with 6:27 to go, and Tucker poured in four straight points for Longwood in response. While Winthrop used free throws to hang around from that point on, the Lancers kept the Eagles at arms' length the rest of the way.

Longwood heads out for two straight road games, with trips to High Point on Saturday, Jan. 3 and UNC Asheville on Wednesday, Jan. 7. The matchup at High Point is at 2 p.m., and both games will air on ESPN+.
 
"We've got to take on the challenge down at High Point and try to go 1-0," Thomas said. "It's the next game, and we have to focus on that. We enjoy this, and we have to do it with effort and be together down there. I think they've only got four or five losses down there. We know what it takes to win down there, but it is going to be really hard, really difficult. They are a very good team...But when we play with effort and we play together, I will go toe-to-toe with anybody in the country."

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