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Twice, Longwood has faced High Point in the Joan Perry Brock Center. And twice, Longwood (14-6, 3-2 Big South) has come up clutch.

One season after Walyn Napper hit a buzzer beater in the season finale to down High Point, Colby Garland basically matched him step for step. High Point (15-5, 3-2 Big South) tied the game at 80 with a big three from Chase Johnston with 11 seconds to go, but Longwood wasn’t done yet.

“Credit to High Point and Johnston making a huge shot,” said Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich. “Then I was really proud of our guys. They came down, we kind of had a pseudo play put together, and Colby came down and made a play. We wanted to put the ball in his hands and let him make a play.”

They did, and he did.

Garland drove, stopped, popped, and hit with 2.5 seconds to play, and a sellout crowd at the Joan Perry Brock Center went bananas.

Then they went home happy after the Lancers forced a miss on High Point’s heave in an 82-80 Longwood win on ESPNU for the Big South Wildcard on Thursday night.

 ‘Big Game Feel’ on ESPN

All night, the game felt like a heavyweight title fight between the reigning Big South Champion—Longwood—and the preseason favorite—High Point. Longwood buckets brought roars from the crowd, and the game was electric from start to finish.

“That was phenomenal,” said Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich. “The fans added an incredible amount. There’s no doubt that the fans gave our players an extra boost and extra juice to compete. It was a lot of fun to be in a game like this with this atmosphere.”

It wasn’t just the thrilling ending either. The first half went back and forth, with neither side ever leading by more than four.

Then, Longwood stormed out to start the second half. The ball whipped around for the Lancers on offense, and it often found Elijah Tucker, who had 12 of his team-high 16 after halftime.

He scored five of Longwood’s first seven points out of the break to help Longwood break a 34-34 tie and open up a seven point lead, but High Point bulldozed its way back into the game.

Big South Preseason Player of the Year Kezza Giffa poured in 12 of his game-high 18 points after halftime, and Simon Hildebrandt added all of his 11 to keep Longwood from breaking the game wide open.

The duo, along with timely threes from Chase Johnston (who had 12), helped High Point erase a 10-point Longwood lead before ultimately tying the game at 59 apiece.

Garland sank a foul shot and then whipped a pass to Jaylen Benard for Benard’s third triple of the night that gave the Lancers a four-point lead with less than seven minutes to play.

Longwood takes a step forward

“This team looked like the Longwood basketball that we’ve seen over the years,” Aldrich said. “I thought this group has really taken a lot of steps towards becoming more of a team. I thought tonight they really showed that. Now we have to continue to build on it. 

Again, High Point didn’t go away, and the Panthers tied the game at 68. This time Garland found fellow lefty Angelo Brizzi, and Brizzi splashed a triple to snap the tie with 4:07 to go. Brizzi matched a season-high with 13 points.

The Lancer lead grew to five, but a mini-run by High Point, capped by Johnston’s triple, set the stage for Garland to call his own number and deliver.

All five starters scored in double figures for Longwood as Michael Christmas had 12 points.

“The biggest thing was that this team competed,” Aldrich said. “I don’t think anybody cared about scoring. I don’t think anybody cared about assists. I don’t think anybody cared about rebounds. I think everybody cared about competing on every possession and trying to win the basketball game. I know Angelo made some big shots. I know Elijah made some big plays. But across the board, I thought this was a team win and great effort across the board from all the guys.”

For High Point, Kimani Hamilton had 10 points before fouling out, and Johnston finished with 12.

What’s next for Lancers?

Longwood has a bye this weekend before heading out on the road to Radford on Wednesday, January 22. Tip is set for 7 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN+.