FARMVILLE, Va. –Elijah Tucker was dominant inside, and the Lancers muscled past Presbyterian 77-70 on Saturday afternoon at the Joan Perry Brock Center.
Tucker powered home 17 points while snaring a season-best 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season to lead Longwood (10-9, 2-2 Big South) and snap a two-game skid.
The graduate was 8-15 from the deck, had 10 points in the first half, and snared four offensive boards while helping Longwood win the all-important rebounding battle in a physical contest.
"We know that the two big guys they had were really good at rebounding, so that's all I was hearing," Tucker said. "I was getting mad at practice. I had Coach Palombo and everybody telling me, 'Oh, they're going to rebound…' Alright, alright, I'm tired of that. I had to come in here and rebound tonight. I'm going to try to continue to do that every game."
Meanwhile, the bench did its part, putting home 36 points behind
Jaylen Benard (11 points) and
Alphonzo Billups III (10 points).
"We challenged them to play for a full 40 minutes," said Longwood Head Coach
Ronnie Thomas. "I think we led for 38 minutes and 49 seconds, but just playing a complete 40, and I think they responded to that. I think anybody would tell you…remove Longwood from it…I've been here for six years, and Presbyterian is the hardest playing team in the league. I don't care if they have somebody that's 150 pounds walking through the door, he's probably the toughest guy in the conference. I think we understood what type of game it was going to be, and I think the guys responded really well."
The offense was fluid with 17 assists on 28 made shots. Nine different players scored as well in the game for the Lancers.
"That's what we practice, getting off the ball, making sure everybody can touch it," Tucker said. "That's what we did, and that's how we got the victory tonight. I'm just proud of my guys. All glory to God for giving me the opportunity, and my teammates and the coaches for pushing each other in practice. That's how we win games like this. It starts in practice, and we build off that. That's how we got the dub tonight."
Bruising forward Jaylen Peterson led Presbyterian (8-10, 1-2 Big South) with 21 points, one shy of his career high, along with a career-high four threes from Iverson King, who finished with 12 points.
But the Lancers never let the Blue Hose get on the glass and only gave up seven offensive rebounds in the contest. Meanwhile, Longwood grabbed 12 offensive rebounds of its own, with Tucker (four) and
Johan Nziemi (four) combining for eight of them.
"I thought it was great," Thomas said of his team's effort on the boards. "I think it wasn't just one guy either. I think its five guys to rebound. Sometimes your job is to block out. Sometimes your job is to run down the ball because Elijah's blocking out a 6'10 guy. I think it's a team effort on the glass.
"They just have to understand the importance of it. I pulled out a stat for them. I told them, if you win the rebounding margin, you have a chance to win. I'm not guaranteeing you will win, but if you lose it, in six years, you are probably guaranteed a loss at Longwood. So you can either win it and have a chance to win or you can lose it and you're not going to win. So just understanding how important the rebound is. And we have to take that into the next game and continue to build that into our identity."
The inside-out play helped the Lancers go 9-19 from downtown, with Benard, Billups and Redd Thompson, Jr. all hitting multiple threes each off the bench.
In the first half, Longwood used a 20-7 run to create separation after the two teams traded buckets in the opening minutes. Tucker had six points in that spurt to turn a two-point lead into a 32-17 advantage with 4:14 to go in the half.
Every time Presbyterian tried to battle back into the game, the Lancers had answers. Whether it was Tucker down low or Benard, Billups and Thompson from the perimeter, Longwood held the Blue Hose at arm's length for the rest of the game.
"They're just understanding that we are getting the best shots as a team when we move the basketball," Thomas added. "We've got to continue to work on that and believe that. When we share the basketball, when we rebound the basketball, and when we play with a sense of effort, we can play a complete 40. Like I told you, we're not peaking yet. We've got a long way to go, and we're going to be a lot better. Our best is ahead. When we get there, you're going to see it, and it's going to be pretty scary."
Longwood returns to the court in a week with a trip to Radford on Saturday, January 17. Tip is set for 2:30 p.m. from the Dedmon Center, and the game will air on ESPN+.
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