Lancers Fall To FDU In Final Tune-Up Before BSC Schedule

Published 4:02 pm Thursday, January 3, 2013

FARMVILLE – To look at the non-shooting stats of Longwood's Monday afternoon 79-71 home loss to Fairleigh Dickinson, it's puzzling to how the Lancers lost.

The Lancers forced 26 FDU turnovers, and only committed 12 of their own. LU came away with 16 steals to their opponent's four and held a 14-5 offensive rebounding advantage.

Still, the Lancers found themselves on the wrong side of what for most of the second half was a double-digit game. The Knights shot 61.4 percent (27-44) from the field compared to 42.6 percent (29-68) for the hosts. Additionally, a 48-38 advantage in the paint for the Knights gives some insight into the final score.

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“We did a good job of forcing turnovers today,” said LU head coach Mike Gillian. “But half of those times, we gave the ball right back, either through a turnover or not getting the rebound on a missed shot. We created the turnovers, and I was glad to see that, but we didn't capitalize on the other end.”

Longwood jumped out to an early lead, and held a 33-30 advantage with 4:00 left in the first half on a layup by junior guard David Robinson, but the Lancers went cold for the remainder of the half and the first ten minutes of the second to dig a hole too deep to climb from.

Robinson's goal was the Lancers' final field goal of the first half. Longwood took its final lead of the contest at 35-34 on two made foul shots by Jeylani Dublin with 1:58 left in the first half, but the Knights closed the period with five straight made foul shots to take a 39-35 lead at the break.

Fairleigh Dickinson began the second half on a 16-6 run. FDU center Kinu Rochford, who was held to just seven points and four rebounds in last season's meeting, controlled the play in the paint with a double-double of 32 points and 11 rebounds (both game highs).

Longwood freshman Michael Kessens tried to match him, but was saddled with foul trouble for most of the afternoon.
<br />A Rochford slam dunk with 8:53 left gave FDU a 59-44 lead. The Knights were able to maintain that advantage for much of the remainder of the game.

Robinson appeared to help change the momentum on a taken charge call with 6:16 left. Longwood was within nine points at 63-54 following a hook shot from Nik Brown at the 4:25 mark, but a goal tend call on FDU's next possession helped push the Knights' lead back to 11 points. A tip by Kessens with 2:37 remaining cut Fairleigh Dickinson's lead to seven points at 67-60, but the Knights answered on the other end on a wide-open three-pointer by Lonnie Robinson in the right corner to push the lead back to ten points with two minutes to play.

Longwood couldn't sustain a run long enough to put a further dent into the Knights' lead in the eight-point loss.

“FDU shoots the three-pointer very well,” said Gillian. “We wanted to take that away, but we didn't do a good job on our other responsibilities. We let them have too much on the inside.

“It's hard to win when you take 24 more shots, but only have two more baskets to show for it. We did a lot right in this game, but we didn't do enough right.”

Longwood was led in scoring by Kessens' 17 points, while guard Tristan Carey had 16 points. Dublin added 14 and Brown scored 12.

In addition to Rochford's 32, Melquan Bolding scored 22 and Lonnie Robinson added 10.

“If we defend in the paint better, we win,” said Gillian. “We've got to put the whole thing together.”

Longwood will host its first-ever Big South Conference game on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Coastal Carolina.

“With the exception of the Bracketbuster game, every game we play from here on out is a conference game. Every team we play is just like us. No more VCU, Georgetown or Creighton. We're on equal footing, but we'll have to do a lot more right than we did today.”