CLINTON, S.C. – Longwood men's basketball was sharp in the first half. But Presbyterian was even better in the second half.
 
Tristan Wilson led all scorers with 26 for Presbyterian (14-14, 7-6 Big South), and the Blue Hose only missed six shots in the second half to erase a 12-point Lancer (14-15, 6-8 Big South) lead at the half. Carl Parrish added 15 points, with 14 coming after halftime, and Jonah Pierce chipped in 13 for PC.
 
Elijah Tucker led the way for Longwood with 22 points, his fourth time with at least 20 points in a game this season. Johan Nziemi added 13 points, and Jacoi Hutchinson added 10—all in the first half.
 
However, it was the Blue Hose defense that forced 11 Longwood turnovers and turned it into 17 points in the second half that proved the difference.
 
"We have to stop turning the ball over," said Longwood Head Coach Ronnie Thomas. "We had two turnovers in the last eight minutes of the first half and outscored them 20-7. We had 11 turnovers in the second half! They scored 17 points off of them. That is hard to recover from on the road, no matter what type of lead you give yourself."
 
Wilson and Parrish both scored in double figures after halftime, and the Blue Hose came out shot out of a cannon to hit 10 of their first 11 shots.
 
Longwood stabilized and tied the game at 51 apiece behind some interior work from Tucker, but the Blue Hose answered and never gave up the advantage from that point on.
 
"We need to do a better job starting the second half," Thomas added. "That has become a theme to get off to slow starts in the second half over the last few weeks."
 
Each time Longwood crawled back into the game, Presbyterian turned to Wilson or Parrish early and Pierce late to keep the Lancers at bay.
 
In the first half, the two sides both started 7-14 from the floor in the opening stretch of the first half, but Longwood's defense got stingy thereafter.
 
The Lancers gave up only two made shots in the final eight minutes of the first half and held the Blue Hose to 39 percent shooting from the floor.
 
Meanwhile, Hutchinson and Payne sparked the offense on the other end. Longwood shot better than 60 percent in the first half, with Hutchinson going a perfect 4-4 from the floor en route to 10 points.
 
Jaylin Payne also gave the team a massive lift off the bench. The junior had his best half as a Lancer, powering home eight points to his career high while adding five rebounds after not scoring in his prior four appearances.
 
Longwood had five players score in the 16-5 run to close the half and turned a one-point lead to a 37-25 advantage at the break.
 
The Lancers wrap up a two-game road swing with a trip to Charleston Southern on Saturday. Tip is set for 4 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN+.
 
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