Nicholas thwarts comeback as Gardner-Webb eclipses Longwood

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — As was befitting the day (February 29), Gardner-Webb was able to leap out to a 52-28 halftime lead over Longwood before the Lancers made a second-half thrust to tie the game at 69 apiece.

However, the last jump came from DQ Nicholas, who sank three free throws in the final moments as the Runnin’ Bulldogs soared to a 72-69 win at Paul Porter Arena.

“We had a great first half,” GWU head coach Tim Craft said. “We played well and we played hard. Credit to Longwood. When you are down by that much at the half, you play desperate and you play loose. You have nothing to lose. They made things hard for us offensively. I don’t think we had we had a field goal for the last 10 minutes (9:26), but we found a way to win.”

Senior Quest Aldridge got off to a great start with a deep three and a short jumper. He followed with another triple, and Julien Soumaoro hit one from deep as well, as GWU built an 11-3 advantage at the first media stoppage. Longwood used turnovers to on an extended run, but Lucas Stieber hit a pair of shots from beyond the arc to keep Gardner-Webb in front midway through the half, at 23-16.

Stieber stayed hot with two more triples and by the time Nicholas canned one, the hosts led by a dozen, at 34-22, with 5:38 left in the half. The treys kept falling as Caleb Robinson and Isaiah Richards, each of whom rarely shoot from deep, connected on one long distance call apiece. Soumaoro finished the half with another three, the 12th trifecta of the half, to beat the buzzer. After review, the basket stood, and GWU led going into the locker room, 50-28.

Longwood opened the second half on a quick 4-0 run, but Stieber restored order with an old-fashioned three-point play. Richards converted a layup and Nicholas hit a three. Longwood kept scoring in the paint, but an emphatic dunk from Robinson had the home team in front by 19 with 14:28 left, 60-41.

From that point, Longwood exploded on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 60-48. Stieber answered with a triple, but by that time, Longwood was back in the game, at 64-52.

The Longwood comeback continued thanks to the Lancers hitting the offensive glass, but Aldridge converted a three-point play to stem the tide. The visitors would not go away, as they pulled to within 68-58 with 5:55 remaining.  A 4-0 run from that point cut the deficit to 68-62, causing another GWU timeout. In fact, Longwood came all the back to tie the game at 69 with under a minute left in the contest.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs then came up with a big defensive stop and ran an iso play for Nicholas. He shot a three and was not allowed to land, resulting in Nicholas going to the line for three free throws. He sank all three as GWU held on for the 72-69 win.

Reverse The Curse: Gardner-Webb has long struggled from the foul line, with poor shooting from the charity stripe costing the program many wins since moving to Division I in 2002. The Runnin’ Bulldogs shoot just over 63 percent as a team from the foul line for the season, and were only 12-of-20 for the night, but none were bigger than the final trio of shots that won the game.

“You just have to treat them like any other free throws throughout the year,” Nicholas said of his pressure-packed points. “We got a big stop and then Caleb made a good outlet pass. I went for the dagger. There wasn’t much contact, but he came down in my space, so it was a foul.”

Stieber Says: Lucas Stieber exploded for 20 points in his final game in Paul Porter Arena. The Wisconsin-Green Bay transfer also hit five of GWU’s 14 triples on the night.

“There are several of us on the team that have the green light to shoot it when the ball is going in like that,” he said. “Unfortunately, we went colder in the second half, but we were able to build that lead in the first half and we needed all of it.”

Salute To The Seniors: In all, GWU honored five seniors before tip off: Aldridge, Nicholas, Robinson, Cheickna Sissoko, and Stieber. All have transferred into the program to finish their career, but Craft says they still made a big impact in Boiling Springs.

“This is just a great group that you love being around and they love to be coached,” Craft said. “They did some great things last year and they have been resilient this year, picking up 10 and possibly 11 wins in the conference season. I am very proud of them.” 

Up Next: GWU (15-15) has the chance to finish the regular season over .500 if it can pick up a win at Winthrop on Saturday. If Radford also beats UNC Asheville, GWU will leapfrog the Bulldogs and finish in second place in the regular season standings. Longwood closes out the season by hosting High Point the same afternoon, but the Lancers’ seeding for the upcoming Big South Conference tournament is much less settled.