Longwood, in a quick turnaround after falling at home on national TV on Thursday night, came up short at UNC Asheville on Saturday, losing 65-61.
For Asheville (11-8, 3-1 Big South), Trent Stephney was perfect from the floor, going 3-of-3 from three and 6-of-6 from the foul line for a season-best 15 points. It was his second time this year with at least 10, which proved to be critical as the Lancer defense held the preseason Big South Player of the Year, Drew Pember, to 12 points, with most of that coming in the second half and at the foul line.
“We are on the road, we competed with less than 48 hours to prepare, and Asheville is, if not the top offensive team, one of the top offensive teams in the conference,” Longwood coach Griff Aldrich said. “And we made it miserable for them. Pember had 12 points, but he was averaging 29 points [in Big South play] going into it. So, I’m really proud of our guys. It’s a step forward.”
The Lancers (13-6, 1-3 Big South) carried that defensive intensity to the offensive glass, an area of strength for the team during non-conference play this season. Longwood only shot 37.3 percent from the floor, Longwood gobbled up 20 offensive rebounds. That led to 17 second chance points, and it came from a variety of sources. Five players had at least two offensive boards.
Szymon Zapala, Walyn Napper and Michael Christmas all tallied 13 points, with Zapala adding 14 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. He had a team-best five offensive rebounds, and Napper added four on the offensive glass.
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Chris Graham
