Walyn Napper in Control: Senior pushes Longwood into semi-finals

Published 6:30 pm Friday, March 8, 2024

Once again Walyn Napper was Mr. March. Once again Longwood was the toughest team when the game – and season – were on the line.

Just six days after hitting a last-second game-winner to beat first-place High Point on Senior Night in Farmville, Napper once again carried Longwood (19-13) on his shoulders. The senior captain scored 20 points, grabbed six rebounds and sparked a second-half run to break open a tight game and lead the No. 5-seed Lancers past No. 4 Winthrop 69-56 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tire Big South Championship.

Their reward: a noon rematch Saturday against regular-season champion and host High Point, on the Panthers’ raucous home floor in front of a packed and deafening student section.

The way the Lancers have played the last three weeks, they can hardly wait.

“Extremely excited to advance,” said head coach Griff Aldrich. “Coming into March, we’re playing some of our best basketball. Honestly it’s a credit to these guys. It’s a credit to Walyn and DA (Houston) in particular. They have lead our commitment to punching back and continuing to fight.”

All season long, the Lancers have never enjoyed the luxury of relying on a single, consistent offensive weapon. But in key games down the stretch, it’s been the senior captain who’s provided more than his share of critical plays.

That was true again during Friday’s physical back-and-forth tilt between two rivals who split their regular-season series and account for three of the last four Big South championships.

Longwood trailed for most of the first-half – and Aldrich was less-than-thrilled with the execution — but finished with a strong run in the final minute to take a 36-35 lead on two Jonathan Massie free-throws just before intermission.”One of the great things of any great basketball team is resilience,” Aldrich said. “Being down a little in the first half, and to acknowledge we’re not doing what we need to do, and then respond. One time out I was broken record saying we need to elevate. And then our captain (Napper) here kind of took the time out over and challenged his teammates, and I thought that was a real turning point for us.”

Napper’s 3-pointer 6:50 remaining in the game put Longwood ahead 56-50. After Emmanuel Richards added his own 3-pointer, Napper made a driving layup at the 4:10 mark to extend the lead to 10, then followed on the next possession with an unforgettable scoop shot to extend the advantage to 12 with 3:23 remaining.

The scoop shot sent the strong contingent of traveling Lancer fans into a frenzy.  Winthrop made a final run, but layups by Michael Christmas and DA Houston in the final 70 seconds sealed the win.
Richards had 11 points and 5 rebounds, and Jonathan Massie added 10 points for the Lancers.

Longwood’s defense held Winthrop — which lead the nation in free throw attempts — to just 7 foul shots in a terrific effort that carried the offense even during the first half when the Lancers weren’t yet into rhythm on offense.

“In the second half, like Coach said, he wanted us to be more committed, more urgent,” Walyn Napper said. “The second half we dominated. The first two minutes wasn’t us, but we figured it out. We got the job done. One game at a time, one brick at a time. We’re just going to keep doing it.”

A week ago, Longwood was facing the prospect of a No. 9 seed and a play-in game in the Big South Tournament. But Napper’s buzzer beater past Saturday to beat High Point rocketed them to a 5-seed and into the quarterfinals.

Now they’re two wins away from the NCAA Tournament.

On Saturday, the Panthers will be out for revenge, and the packed-house setting will be pure March Madness. High Point beat Radford 77-63 earlier Friday to advance.

“I’m looking forward to the atmosphere,” Napper said. “They have a good atmosphere. They have good fans. We’re going to try to come out and push and win.”

Editor’s note: One week ago, Napper crossed the 1,000-point mark and talked with us about the season, his accomplishment and how he grew to love basketball. You can read that by clicking here.