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A 52-point eruption after halftime powered Longwood past Charleston Southern on Saturday night, 83-78, in the Big South home opener for the Lancers (12-5, 1-1 Big South).

The defense was ferocious to start the second half, and that paved the way for sublime offense. Longwood erased a four-point halftime deficit to build a lead as big as 16 before fending off the feisty Buccaneers (5-12, 1-1 Big South) in the waning minutes.

Kyrell Luc erupted with 15 of his team-high 19 points, and he added four assists as the Lancers improved to 8-1 in the Joan Perry Brock Center this season. Colby Garland, meanwhile scored 11 of his 17 in the first half to keep Longwood hanging around after a slow start, and he added a team-best six assists.

“It always starts on the defensive end,” said Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich of his team’s start to the second half. “I thought we played great. We kind of had some slippage in the last, I would say, five minutes of the game. I have to go back and look at how many points they had with about five minutes left, but it felt like they scored on every possession—scored or got fouled—on every possession. It really was a great defensive effort. When we defend, we get rebounds, and then that allows us to play in transition, which is, frankly, one of our strong suits. That’s something that we have to try and get better on, is the defensive end.”

 Longwood finds spark after halftime

The guard duo helped Longwood’s offense hum after halftime, repeatedly finding Elijah Tucker (13 points) as well as open shooters. The Lancers hit nine of their first 10 from the floor in the second half before shooting 16-23 (.696) in the final stanza.

The ball popped around the floor, and the Lancers buried seven of their eight treys as well after coming up empty on five attempts in the first half.

The first half was a choppy affair that saw Taje’ Kelly and Daylen Berry lead the way for the Bucs. The visitors led by as much as seven, with both Kelly and Berry scoring in double figures. Kelly finished with a game high 25, and Berry added 18 thanks to 9-10 shooting at the foul line.

After CSU led 35-31 at the break, the Lancers found new life in the locker room.

Michael Christmas and Angelo Brizzi forced a turnover, and then Brizzi drained a three off an extra pass from Christmas on the other end. Brizzi forced another turnover, and Garland hit a floater for Longwood’s first lead of the night.

The defense continued to pester Kelly and crew, and the Lancer offense ripped off eight straight points a few minutes later to extend the lead to 51-41.

KJ McClurg capped the extended run a few minutes later with a triple for a 59-43 lead with 12:22 to go, but Charleston Southern didn’t go away.

 Charleston Southern struggles

The Bucs leaned on RJ Johnson, who scored all 19 of his points after halftime, along with Kelly and a couple of triples from DJ Patrick, to whittle away at the Lancer lead. Charleston Southern went 16-24 from the foul line after halftime, and 25-35 from the stripe in the game, for a steady source of offense that kept chopping away at the Lancer lead.

CSU trimmed the deficit to four points on a jumper by Kelly with 40 seconds left, but Emanuel Richards hit a pair of foul shots to stabilize things for Longwood. While Patrick added his final three of the night with 14 seconds left to trim it to three, Longwood hit enough foul shots to close it out.

“Credit Charleston Southern, they kept battling,” Aldrich said. “They played a brutal nonconference schedule. They’re a really good team. I think every Big South game this year is going to be a dog fight.”

 What’s coming next?

The Lancers stay at home as they host UNC Asheville on Wednesday, January 8 at 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+ with Sam Hovan and John Feinstein on the call.