Longwood plays St. Bonaventure tight, ultimately falls, 73-69

Longwood put up a gritty road effort on the road, but a seasoned St. Bonaventure squad edged the Lancers, 73-69, on Monday night.

Neither side ever led by more than nine, and the game featured 11 ties and eight lead changes in a fast, physical contest that provided Lancer Nation plenty of flashes of a bright future this season despite the loss.

Szymon Zapala and Michael Christmas played the role of bash brothers on the interior, combining for 30 points and 22 rebounds.

Zapala had a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Christmas matched him with 11 rebounds to go with 10 points.

“I’m extremely proud of the guys,” Longwood coach Griff Aldrich said. “They really competed throughout the game. We outrebounded them by 16 and had 21 offensive rebounds. Szymon had seven, Mike had five. We really competed at a very high level for 32 minutes of the game. So I’m extremely proud of what I saw tonight.”