BSC preseason No. 1 tops Lancers
Published 10:19 am Thursday, January 11, 2018
- Longwood University redshirt senior guard Charles Glover scored a season-high 19 points to lead the Lancers on Tuesday (photo by Mike Kropf).
University of North Carolina (UNC) at Asheville, the Big South preseason No. 1 men’s basketball team, pulled away from visiting Longwood University on Tuesday evening for a 90-80 victory at Kimmel Arena.
The Bulldogs (9-8, 2-2 Big South) received a game-high 24 points from reigning Big South Freshman of the Year MaCio Teague to help them improve to 7-0 on their home court.
The Lancers lost despite shooting 53.1 percent (26-of- 49) from the floor as part of its best offensive game of the season.
“I was pleased we went to the free throw line 28 times, but we just couldn’t hold them down,” said Longwood Head Coach Jayson Gee. “Teague’s a really good player. I thought he got off some really good shots. Our effort was there, but we just had too many turnovers to weather the storm against a really good team on the road.”
Following Longwood’s 79-73 home win over Gardner-Webb University on Saturday, the Lancers have now scored at least 79 points in back-to-back games against Division I opponents for the first time this season.
Propelling that offensive effort for Longwood (4-13, 1-3 Big South) on Tuesday was redshirt senior guard Charles Glover, who scored a season-high 19 points. The Lancers’ leading scorer, redshirt junior guard Isaiah Walton, added 16, and redshirt sophomore forward Jahleem Montague set a career-high with 12 points.
But UNC Asheville’s defense helped the Lancers tally 17 turnovers.
“This is a really good basketball team, a team picked to win our league,” Gee said of the Bulldogs. “I thought we fought really hard, which is something we’ve done the last couple games and something we need to continue to do.”
Longwood’s newfound fight, which ignited a 10-steal night in Saturday’s win against Gardner-Webb showed up again Tuesday in the form of 17 Lancer assists and 18 UNC Asheville turnovers. However, the Bulldogs made up the difference on the offensive glass where they converted nine offensive boards into 15 points.
The recharged Lancers visit rival Liberty University (12-5, 3-1 Big South) on Friday at 7 p.m.
