Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It was another winning season, another year going toe-to-toe with the best of the Big South. Alas, this one won’t end with another magical run to the NCAA Tournament for Longwood men’s basketball, whose valiant second-half comeback effort fell short in an 88-79 loss to hot-shooting Winthrop on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tires Big South Championship.

And head coach Griff Aldrich couldn’t help but be disappointed that his team didn’t reach the heights he hoped for them.

Still, once the sting wears off, 2024-25 will serve as another brick in the foundation of what is now a clearly established perennial winning program.

An 18-14 record. A fourth straight year above .500, with 85 total wins – by far the best stretch in program history.

And even in a losing effort doomed by a poor-shooting first half, a team that never quit – rallying from 24 points down shortly after halftime to cut the lead to 8 and give the Eagles a scare in the final minutes.

Fighting to the end

Colby Garland scored 24 points, Michael Christmas added 15 and Jaylen Benard added 9 in a ferocious effort at both ends for the Lancers.

“Yes, I’m extremely proud of the group for playing the way they did in the second half,” Aldrich said, but “we really struggled to get that commitment to execute the game plan, to compete. Our problems came down to the offensive end.”

“I thought Jaylen Benard battled the entire time. He’s been a warrior the entire season,” Aldrich said. “Colby obviously had a good game scoring-wise, but I thought he just lead us well, and wouldn’t let us break, so I was really proud of him.”

Longwood cut Winthrop’s lead to 74-66 on a Michael Christmas’s 3-pointer with 5:30 remaining, bringing the vocal contingent of Longwood fans at the Freedom Hall Civic Center to its feet. For a moment, it felt like the comeback magic that helped the Lancers to three upset wins in three days to claim last year’s tournament title might be back in the air.

But the early lead built by the athletic and hot-shooting Eagles was too big a hill to climb. Winthrop, entering the game as the No. 6 offensive team in the nation, hit 13 3-pointers – its third game this year with at least 10 3-pointers against the Lancers. The Eagles broke open a 17-17 tie midway through the first half with a 17-4 run that grew to a 45-24 lead at halftime.

Longwood struggles against Winthrop

The Lancers, in turn, couldn’t get into gear until it proved too late.

“Tonight obviously a frustrating night for us,” Aldrich said. “To be honest, a little bit of our microcosm of our entire season.”

“My hope for these guys is that they do learn,” he said. “I don’t think anybody in that locker rooms thinks we met expectations. Hopefully this is something they will learn from and will be able to help them in a future season of their life.”

The disappointment will come against the new standard for Longwood basketball set in recent years under Aldrich, for a program that never had a winning record at the Division I level since joining the Big South prior to his arrival in 2018.

“Eighteen wins is a good thing,” Aldrich said, “but we always try to measure ourselves at Longwood by, did you reach your potential?”

Christmas says goodbye

The loss closed out the Big South career of Christmas, an all-time Longwood student body and crowd favorite, whose four years in a Lancer uniform saw two NCAA Tournament appearances, and the opening of the Joan Perry Brock Center. In an era where loyalty is at a premium in college basketball, Christmas committed to Longwood as the best place to develop as a person – and stuck with it.

“Michael made it cool to go to Longwood if you’re a basketball player in Virginia. That’s a big thing,” Aldrich said. “He will be synonymous with Longwood basketball for years to come. It’s been an honor to coach him and a privilege. He’s a fine young man.”