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The Brock Challenge is going good so far for the host Longwood Lancers. In overtime, Longwood men’s basketball had plenty of chances to fold on Friday afternoon against Delaware State.

Shots weren’t going down, and nothing came easy for the Lancers (4-1). Instead of buckling though, the team pulled off a wild comeback to stay unbeaten in the Joan Perry Brock Center. The Lancers erased a six-point Delaware State (1-5) advantage in the final 13 seconds of overtime to force double overtime before winning 84-82 in the second extra frame.

Michael Christmas, Johnathan Massie, Walyn Napper and DA Houston all made massive plays in a game that saw the two teams trade big time plays back and forth in crunch time.

Christmas had 17 points and was a perfect 11-11 from the foul line, and Massie added 10 points, including six free throws in the overtimes, to go with a team best nine rebounds. Napper chipped in 14 points, all after halftime, and Houston tied a career best with 16 points.

Longwood led for almost the entirety of regulation before Delaware State rallied late behind Martaz Robinson, Jevin Muniz and Deywilk Tavarez. Robinson had a game high 24, and Muniz added 22 while Tavarez had a career high 19.

Forcing overtime in Brock Challenge

Delaware State had forced overtime on Robinson’s 15-foot bank shot with 1.8 seconds to play, and the Hornets opened up a seven-point advantage early in the extra period.

However, Christmas gave Longwood new life when he knifed into the paint with 1:12 to go and hit a twisting layup while being fouled. His free throw cut the lead to 68-64, and Napper drained a floater to cut it to two with 30 seconds left.

Robinson calmly sank four fouls shots for Delaware State in response to push the lead back to six with 19 seconds to play.

Houston stormed up the floor and hit a floater to cut it to four with 13 seconds left, and then the Lancer defense made the magic happen. Jesper Granlund stole the ball back with 10 seconds to go, and Massie drained two critical foul shots to cut the lead to 72-70.

Massie then swiped the inbounds pass and saved the ball for the Lancers off a Delaware State player, and Walyn Napper scored on a back cut that tied the game at 72 all to force double overtime.

In the second overtime, Robinson again struck first for Delaware State, but Christmas muscled home four straight to give Longwood’s its first lead in extra time, 76-74. Christmas had six of his 17 in the second overtime, including 4-4 from the foul line.

Massie also came up huge, as he went 4-4 from the free throw line, and he added a big block and an offensive rebound that effectively iced the game with 13 seconds left.

Coming up next

Longwood will take on Lamar in the second game of the Brock Challenge on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+ and on the radio on 92.9 Kickin’ Country.

Fans can use the code ‘buytwo’ to buy two tickets and get two FREE for the remainder of the Brock Challenge at www.longwoodlancers.com/tickets.