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The out-of-sorts and injury-riddled Longwood Lancers, down three scoring threats, couldn’t find enough of a spark in the closing minutes and fell to Presbyterian College, 68-77, on Saturday night.

The loss, Longwood’s fifth-straight, drops them to a tie for sixth place in the conference standings with just three games to play before the Big South Tournament.

The visiting Blue Hose battled foul trouble all game, putting the Lancers—who relentlessly drove the ball into the paint all night—at the line a whopping 39 times. They hit 28 of the easy ones to keep the score close, but it wasn’t enough to keep hot-shooting Presbyterian at bay.

“I felt tonight was very disappointing. The effort was good for the most part,” said Head Coach Griff Aldrich. “We had too many errors on the defensive end.”

The Lancers went just 2-14 from behind the three-point arc for the game, and hit just 19 shots from the floor.

“It’s not about making the shots, it’s about doing the details right,” said Aldrich. “I thought our effort was good, but then we’d come down and trying to make tough shots instead of being disciplined. It just wasn’t execution-focused.”

Junior forward Elijah Tucker paced the Lancers with 15 points and 7 boards, while sophomore guard Jaylen Benard pulled down 9 rebounds off the glass to go with his 8 points. Point guard Kyrell Luc also scored 15 points, and junior guard Angelo Brizzi and senior forward Michael Christmas each added 13.

The Lancers will try to rebound at home Wednesday against Gardner-Webb, who is tied with Longwood in the conference standings. Tip-off will happen at 7 p.m. in the Joan Perry Brock Center.