The Longwood Lancers hosted the USC Upstate Spartans for a less-than-romantic match on Valentine’s Day in the Joan Perry Brock Center. It was an intensely physical matchup in both of the 20 minute halves and needed an extra five to decide who would come out on top. Longwood was able to manipulate the defense and get to the line to pull off the thrilling win in overtime, 82-75.
In the second half, Longwood’s bench came alive — especially Junior guard Alphonzo “Fats” Billups III, who erupted for a career-high 25 points after scoring 20 on Thursday against UNC Asheville.
Billups told The Rotunda, “I’m doing whatever it takes to get the win and still bringing that confidence. My teammates found me and I was able to get the shots.”
This marks the fourth time in conference play that the Richmond native has scored in double figures. Billups also set a career-high in three pointers, making six.
Other huge contributions off the bench for Longwood includes another Richmond native, Sophomore guard Redd Thompson Jr., and Junior guard Jaylen Benard. Both men scored 12 and nine points, respectively.
Head Coach Ronnie Thomas told The Rotunda, “Depth is definitely a strength for us. It could be anyone's night, and we got to find a way to put the ball [in] certain people's hands.”
The Lancers off the bench combined for 46 points, while the Spartans were only able to score seven.
In overtime, the Lancers outscored USC Upstate 13 to six. Graduate forward Elijah Tucker scored five of his total 11 points in overtime, also grabbing 10 rebounds. This now totals seven double-doubles on the season for Tucker.
Tucker said to The Rotunda, “It really [was] just upping our focus when we [got] into overtime. I’m proud of how we just stayed together, even though stuff wasn’t going our way. We got the stops we needed and we ended with the dub.”
For the Spartans, three players on their side scored in double figures. Karmani Gregory led the way with 23 points, while Mason Bendinger scored 19 and Carmelo Adkins added 13. However, Thomas said after the game that he believed it was other Spartans who forced Longwood to make adjustments.
“I think Martinez, Collier and Garcia were really good for Upstate,” Thomas said, “They were the difference. Those three guys gave us the biggest trouble, they changed our offense.”
USC Upstate grabbed 41 rebounds — 13 of them being offensive boards, compared to Longwood's 36. The Spartans also outscored the Lancers in the paint 38 to 30. “They made us shoot the ball in different ways,” Thomas said.
The Lancers hit 10 three pointers, seven of them coming in the second half, where they hit 62% on threes. The last time the Lancers shot over 10 threes in one game was nearly a month ago against Radford, where they hit 11.
The Spartan’s first overtime loss adds to their losing column, now sitting with an overall record of 11-16 and a Big South record of 3-9. They sit eighth in the standings behind Charleston Southern and above Gardner-Webb. USC Upstate now heads to Rock Hill, South Carolina to face Winthrop before returning home to face Presbyterian.
For the Lancers, the win keeps them in the middle of the standings, sitting sixth with an even record of 14-14 and a conference record of 6-7.
Longwood has three games left in the season and now heads to Clinton, South Carolina to face Presbyterian on February 19. Afterwards, they will face Charleston Southern before returning home for the final game of the season against Radford on Feb. 28.
“Moving forward, ball security is our number one priority when it comes to offense,” Thomas said “I think the key for our whole offense is just sharing the basketball and to do that we got to have ball security."
