For a little over 20 years, class of 1990 Longwood alumnus Kevin Jefferson held the record for the all-time leading scorer in Longwood history with 1,806 points in his career. On Monday, Feb. 20, Longwood history was made in Norfolk, Va. when Senior Center Antwan Carter scored 19 points to put him above Jefferson with 1,808 career points with four games remaining for the Lancers.
When Carter came from St. Petersburg, Fl. to Farmville, Va. to play at Longwood University four years ago, he never thought this day would come. "I didn't come here thinking I was going to do this," Carter said. "It just happened and now I'm a believer." As a freshman, Carter started nine of the 30 games while he averaged 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. During Carter's sophomore year, he started 11 of 31 games while he averaged 14.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Carter then took over a leadership role and became a full-time starter his junior season with only two seniors on the 2010-11 team roster.
During his junior season, Carter averaged 18.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. After the junior year season, Carter said, "a good friend of mine that follows all the games told me all I had to do was average 17 points next season … I'm not really worried about it. If it happens, it happens. I'm trying to better my team and win some games for Longwood. That was all that was on my mind the whole time."
That is exactly what Carter did. Carter improved his game again as he did every season, averaging 19.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Head Coach Mike Gillian said, "Antwan has done a really good job to continually develop, continually embrace the work that needs to be done to achieve these types of things … numbers kind of speak for themselves." Carter hasn't backed down from anyone he has faced throughout his career even though he is an undersized center. In the past two seasons versus tournament caliber teams, Carter has averaged 17.2 points and 7.9 rebounds in those games. Those include teams like Kansas, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall and Marquette University.
Gillian said, "Antwan has a unique talent of scoring once he catches the ball in the low post … I wouldn't trade him for anyone … I would take head to head versus anyone."
Carter always seems to go out there and give it his all every time he steps out on the court. He always seems to give 110 percent no matter what his team record or the record of the team Longwood is facing is. Carter said, "When I really like something, I'm going to give it my all. To me, basketball is fun."
The reunion game was back on Feb. 11, and Carter got a chance to speak with 1984 alumnus Jerome Kersey and Jefferson, who were both ahead of Carter at that time. Carter said, "Both were cool guys and glad to see I was working hard. Jefferson told me he wouldn't want anyone else but me to break that record. It was nothing but respect."
On the night Carter broke the record, the Lancers came up short versus Norfolk State. Carter said, "It is always going to be some satisfaction when completing something this epic, but at the same time, I wanted to win … I'm still bitter about it." Carter went on, "I want to thank my coaches and my team … even my high school coach who taught and introduced the game to me … I thank Gillian, who believes in me, because if it wasn't for him, there would be no Longwood." Carter commented about his future plans post graduation, saying,
"I'm going to keep God first and let him lead my way and hopefully good things come … I can't predict the future, but I just hope I can continue to play basketball as long as I can and enjoy playing basketball."