Don’t sleep on Longwood: Napper leads Lancers to Big South semis

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

HIGH POINT, N.C. — The Longwood Lancers have had an up-and-down season, but certainly began their Big South tournament journey on a high note, as Walyn Napper scored a team-high 18 points to lead the fifth-seeded Lancers to an upset of No. 4 seed Winthrop in the quarterfinal round, 69-56.

“We have always been a really talented team, but we have not always been able to put it together,” head coach Griff Aldrich said. “We did not start particularly well for the first 14 minutes or so, but I think we really elevated our game in the second half.”

Longwood (19-13) got off to a quick 4-0 start and was stingy on defense until Sin’Cere McMahon hit a 3 just before the media stoppage. DA Houston answered with an old-fashioned three-point play for Longwood. The Lancers got in early foul trouble. Even though the game was tied 9-9, Longwood had six fouls at the 12:14 mark of the first half.

Nate Johnson hit a three for the Winthrop to give the Eagles a slim 14-13 lead midway through the opening half. KJ Doucet followed with a triple that sparked a 5-0 Eagle run, forcing a Lancer timeout. Napper responded with a floater. By the time Emanuel Richards hit a three, Longwood had cut the deficit to 21-18.

The teams traded triples before McMahon converted a diving layup, but Napper turned the same trick later in the half to tie the contest at 26. McMahon beat the shot clock with a trey, but it was Longwood’s Jonathan Massi who sank two from the charity stripe with 1.2 seconds left in the half to give his team a 34-33 lead at the break.

Micheal Anumba scored the first five points of the second half, but Richards kept Longwood in front by a 41-40 margin with a deep triple. Jesper Granlund and Massie completed the trio of trifectas as the Lancers grabbed their biggest lead of the game, 47-40, with 14:23 left in the game. McMahon answered with a three of his own as part of a quick 5-0 Winthrop run and by the time Anumba hit another from deep, the Eagles had cut the deficit to 53-50 with 8:54 remaining.

The teams stayed stuck on the same score for over two minutes of game action until Napper hit a three. Richards followed with another moments later before Napper scored four points in a row to cap a 10-1 Lancer run, giving Longwood a 63-51 lead.

McMahon went on a personal 5-0 run to keep the Eagles in the game, but a bucket by Michael Christmas with just over a minute left helped seal the upset for the Lancers.

WALYN & THE BOYS: Walyn Napper was efficient from the floor, shooting at a 7-of-17 clip, scoring 18 points. However, none were bigger than the four in a row he scored to key a 10-1 Longwood run in the second half.

“Adversity hit us tonight, and I think we responded well,” Napper said. “Like Coach said, we did not start all that well but we responded. From about the 18-minute mark, that was Longwood basketball.”

REVIEWING THE “PROSSESS”: Winthrop was once the perennial juggernaut of the Big South, but during each of the last two seasons, the Eagles have faced an early exit in the Big South tournanent.

“That’s happening too often,” Winthrop head coach Mark Prosser said. “Longwood outplayed us today and that has been happening a lot. These players deserve better and we are going to have to work to make sure we don’t have this feeling again.”

FACING THE PANTHERS: The Lancers advance to face host and top-seeded High Point tomorrow at noon. Napper is looking forward to playing in the hostile environment.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere in front of a lot of fans. We split with them in the regular season. As long as we start fast, I think we will win.”