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A half-court buzzer-beater as the first half ended sparked life into the Longwood Lancers offense as they fended off a hot-shooting Randolph Wildcats team to open the 2024 season with a win.

With two seconds left in the first half and Longwood holding just a 5-point lead over the Wildcats, redshirt junior Angelo Brizzi launched a shot with his toes just behind the half court line that hit nothing but net.

As it went in, the vocal crowd in the Joan Perry Brock Center rose to their feet and cheered the Lancers to an eventual 79-68 victory.

For much of the game, Randolph poured in three after three, keeping the Lancers within reach. But they also couldn’t stop fouling the players in blue and white, giving up a whopping 29 points from the foul line.

“We had a spurt in the second half where we played with purpose, but overall we made too many mistakes and looked sluggish,” said head coach Griff Aldrich. “Credit to Randolph. They came right at us and we were too relaxed.”

Redshirt junior KJ McClurg, an All-American transfer from D-II California University, paced the Lancers with 14 points, with ten of those coming from the foul line. Sophomore Colby Garland, a transfer from Drake University, added 12, more than once coming up with a big bucket or defensive stop to spark a Lancers scoring run. Brizzi, a transfer from Davidson, ended the game a board and a bucket away from a double-double.

Newcomer Kyrell Luc, a speedy transfer guard from St. Bonaventure, scored the first points of the season, a driving layup to his left past two Wildcat defenders. But a feisty Wildcat team hung with the physical Lancers, keeping the score close for much of the first half.

The Lancers were uncharacteristically cold from deep, missing their first six three-point attempts of the season, compared with a Wildcat team that scored more than half their total points from downtown.

But with 7:30 left in the first half, a turnaround mid-range jumper from Garland followed by a thunderous alley-oop dunk from senior center Elijah Tucker sparked some life into the Lancer offense.

Longwood Lancers spark in second half

In the second half, the Lancers came out with purpose, starting with another alley-oop to Tucker, followed by a three from Colby Garland.

The Wildcats continued to counter with triples to keep the game within reach, pulling to within seven points with 17 minutes left to go in the game before the Lancers found their rhythm and stretched the margin. Randolph closed a 20-point lead in the waning minutes, but it wasn’t enough to leave Farmville with an upset.

The Lancers will now prepare for a Homecoming matchup against Morgan State at 3 p.m. on Saturday in front of what is expected to be a sellout crowd of alumni, students, and Lancer fans. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.