A wild finish, a half-court game-winner, and a Longwood win drew ESPN’s national spotlight to Willett Hall multiple times Thursday night.
Longwood men’s basketball’s 57-54 win over Gardner-Webb earned a SportsCenter double feature, as junior guard DeShaun Wade’s 50-foot game-winner earned the No. 1 spot on the SC Top 10 countdown, and the game’s final 10 seconds received a lengthy breakdown on the show’s “Campus Tour” segment.
Wade’s half-court heave broke a 54-54 tie with 4.7 seconds left and put the Lancers on top for good in a back-and-forth Big South battle in which neither team led by more than one possession for the game’s final 14 minutes.
But even after Wade’s game-winner, which he was rushed into after the shot clock did not reset following a missed Gardner-Webb layup, the drama continued. Gardner-Webb got the ball back under their own basket but fumbled away the inbounds, giving the Lancers a chance to seal the win with just over three seconds remaining. However, the Runnin’ Bulldogs returned the favor and stole the ball on Longwood’s inbounds play, but their desperation three-point attempt missed, securing the Longwood win.
The win was Longwood’s fourth straight in Willett Hall and continued an end-of-season surge in which the Lancers have won five of their past eight games.
Meanwhile, Wade became the third Lancer to appear on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 this season and the 12th since Longwood joined the Big South in 2012-13. He joins Longwood women’s basketball players Kyla McMakin and Tra’Dayja Smith, who earned ESPN SC Top 10 highlights earlier this winter.
Also representing Longwood on the SportsCenter Top 10 Plays countdown in recent years has been Madison Blair (softball), Kaylynn ‘Bug’ Batten (softball), Tristan Carey (men’s basketball), Emilie Kupsov (women’s soccer), Emily Murphy (softball), Janese Quick (women’s soccer), JaShaun Smith (men’s basketball), Jessica Smith (softball) and Lucas Woodhouse (men’s basketball).
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