Lancers improve to 9-5

Published 11:07 am Monday, December 24, 2018

The Flood warning was in full effect Friday night in Willett Hall, a Longwood University athletics press release noted.

Officials in the release stated that Longwood junior point guard Seán Flood made it rain three-pointers, hitting 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc en route to a career-high 21 points that propelled the Lancers to a 77-63 win over Stetson University (3-11) and kept them undefeated on their home floor.

Longwood is now 6-0 at Willett Hall this season.

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Flood hit two of his three-pointers within the first six minutes of the game to spark a team-wide downpour that saw Longwood drain a season-high 17-of-32 treys, the release cited. Fellow junior guard Jaylon Wilson finished 4-of-5 beyond the arc and redshirt sophomore guard Juan Munoz hit all three of his long-range attempts, while seven different Lancers hit a three-pointer.

The 17 three-pointers were the second most in Longwood’s Division I era, trailing only the school-record 20 Longwood hit against Virginia Military Institute on Dec. 12, 2011, officials said.

The release highlighted that Friday’s win is the latest in a historic start to the 2018-19 season for the Lancers, who are off to the program’s best 14-game start since the 2000-01 Lancers opened the year 11-3. Longwood has secured a winning non-conference record for the first time since joining the Big South in 2012-13 and has done so while going 4-1 in games following a loss this season.

Longwood’s latest rebound came after Cornell University put on a similar shooting clinic Dec. 17, hitting 16-of-32 three-pointers on the way to a 70-64 win in Ithaca, N.Y., officials stated.

“We’ve been going two-a-days since we’ve been off for Christmas,” Flood said in the release. “We’ve been coming in early to get some shooting done and some dry work where we’re not going live, just running through our offense 5-on-0. Then later on in the day going into practice, it’s difficult, but we’ve seemed to adapt to it. It’s tough waking up early and then having to come back for a second practice, but obviously it stood out in how we played today.”

Flood was the beneficiary of many open looks on the perimeter as part of a crisp effort that saw the Lancers rack up 18 assists compared to just 11 turnovers and shoot 50 percent (25-of-50) from the floor, the release cited. It added that Flood’s fellow newcomer Shabooty Phillips figured heavily into those numbers, dishing six assists in his 23 turnover-free minutes, all of which led to made three-pointers — two by Flood, two by Wilson and one each by forward Damarion Geter and redshirt senior guard Isaiah Walton, who was back from injury.

The Lancers (9-5) visit The Citadel on Saturday at 1 p.m.