Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Early defense fueled a strong first half for Longwood men’s basketball, and the Lancers (5-1) won their fifth straight with an 83-72 win over Lamar on the second day of the Brock Challenge.

Johnathan Massie led the charge with 20 points along with eight rebounds and three assists, but three other Lancers finished in double figures. Michael Christmas, Elijah Tucker and Emanuel Richards had a dozen apiece to keep the Lancers unbeaten in the Joan Perry Brock Center.

The Lancer defense, meanwhile, high-octane Lamar (3-3) offense that came in averaging better than 86 points per game to only 39 percent shooting from the floor. Lamar’s B.B. Knight posted a game-high 21, but the Lancers limited the rest of his team to 17-47 shooting.

At the start of the game, Christmas sparked the Lancers following a strong start by Lamar. The graduate student drained a three, and Massie added one of his own to give Longwood a 9-7 lead.

Those triples, coupled with a stifling defense that drained the life out of Lamar’s offense, opened up an 18-3 run over a six minute stretch. Tucker powered home a dunk for a 21-10 lead that capped the run halfway through the half.

While Chris Pryor hit a jumper for Lamar to cut it back to single digits, Massie rumbled into the paint for a deuce, stole the ball and then found Tucker on the other end to quickly put the Lancers up a dozen.

Longwood stayed up by double figures for the rest of the half and took a 45-30 lead at the break.

After halftime, the Lancers owned the first five minutes. Richards hit a pair of threes as a part of his career-best 12, and Tucker capped a 16-6 run with a thunderous slam dunk for a 61-36 lead with 15:09 to play.

Lamar finally found a rhythm defensively, but the damage was done. The visitors never trimmed the lead to single digits as the Lancers did enough down the stretch to manage the game.

Wrapping up the Brock Challenge

Longwood takes on Bethune-Cookman to close out the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 following a matchup between Lamar and Delaware State. The game will air on ESPN+ and on the radio on WVHL 92.9 Kickin’ Country.

Tickets are still available, and fans can use the code ‘buytwo’ to buy two tickets and get two for FREE at www.longwoodlancers.com/tickets.