HIGH POINT, N.C. — They never stopped believing. If they could just stick together, they could be the best team in the hugely talented Big South.
They did. They are.
And now they're headed back to March Madness – bringing Lancer Nation along for another thrilling ride to the Big Dance.
Michael Christmas scored 18 points, Szymon Zapala had 17, and Walyn Napper added 10 points and 11 assists to lead Longwood past UNC Asheville 85-59 Sunday in the Hercules Tire Big South Tournament championship game, advancing to the NCAA Division I Tournament for the second time in three years. Napper was named the Tournament MVP, and both Christmas and Zapala joined him as All-Tournament selections.
In three unforgettable days of basketball, the Lancers beat the No. 4, No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the tournament.
On Sunday, they dominated defending champion UNC Asheville, leaving zero doubt who was the Big South's best team when it mattered most.
"It means everything," Zapala said. "It's a dream come true for me, playing in a championship game, winning, and getting a chance to play in March Madness."
When it was over Lancers cut down the nets in the Qubein Center with students, Stampede band members, cheerleaders, faculty and staff, teary-eyed family and other glowing fans eager to celebrate after driving down to cheer in person for a team that that caught fire in the final weeks of the season.
They'll find out who they play in the NCAA Tournament in one week, on Selection Sunday.
"Just an amazing performance by the guys," said head coach Grif Aldrich. "Our effort was tremendous. We were extremely tough. Three games in three days….. The reality is these guys, I'm not sure they couldn't have played another 40 minutes the way they were playing. There was just a dog mentality across the board. I thought it was tremendous."
Two years ago, Longwood (21-13) made its first NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Big South Tournament, following a 15-1 conference record. This time the journey was very different – but thrilling in a new way, a storyline even the most hopeful Lancer fans could hardly have imagined just a few short weeks ago.
This was a group that bonded early – on a preseason trip to Europe -- and stuck together through a tough stretch of mid-year setbacks that might have unraveled less connected teams. Just eight days ago, Longwood seemed likely to be relegated to a first-round play-in game in the conference tournament.
"The only people who didn't realize they were 6-10 in conference were the guys in our locker room," Aldrich said. "They knew they were a lot better. They believed throughout. Their confidence in themselves and each other has truly been remarkable."
In the final weeks of the season, they showed they could go toe-to-toe with anyone in a conference whose overall talent level has never been higher.
Then, in Sunday's title game, they did a lot more than go toe-to-toe.
They had to do it without a key contributor. Elijah Tucker, who played a critical role getting Longwood to Sunday, missed the final game with an injury.
"I talked to ET before the game, what he said was, 'go win the championship,'" Zapala said. "We all said before the game we had to do it for him. That was our mindset from the beginning."
No kidding. Christmas opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and a dunk, Johan Nziemi followed with six quick points as Longwood exploded out of the gates. The Lancers simply pounded away at the Bulldogs inside, extending the lead to 42-24 on Zapala's lay-in at the halftime buzzer.
It was the most complete half of basketball Lancer fans had seen in a long time – maybe ever – and Asheville never knew what hit them. Longwood dominated the boards, held two-time Big South Player of the Year Drew Pember to a single first-half field goal, and kept the Bulldogs off the free throw line until the final 37 seconds before intermission.
The second half was more of the same, as Longwood simply outmuscled, outhustled, outshot and outrebounded the Bulldogs, never letting them get within striking range – allowing players and fans to loudly savor the final two minutes, the game and title in hand.
Everyone contributed, picking up slack with Tucker's absence. Emmanuel Richards was ferocious on defense, and DA Houston – back after an eye injury that limited his minutes in the semi-finals – played with his usual relentlessness while helping Longwood break Asheville's press.
Even Trey Hicks, who made himself a team leader despite getting very little playing time due to injuries during his Longwood career, came off for a few minutes in the second half for the first time this season to spot a Lancers' frontcourt depleted by Tucker's absence. And to the delight of Longwood fans – and his parents in the stands – he scored the final points of the game on a dunk.
Napper, meanwhile, set a tournament championship game record with his 11 assists.
"Walyn and Napper and DA have literally grabbed hold of this team and told them what they're going to do, how they're going to do it," Aldrich said. "The leadership you saw over the past couple of days has been phenomenal." Of Napper, he added: "One of the great joys in coaching is getting to see people grow. I've never seen anybody grow as much. Even if we had lost in the tournament."
It was the cap of an eight-day run Lancer Nation will never forget. A week ago Saturday, Napper's last-second bucket sent Longwood past regular-season champion High Point in the season finale in Farmville, rocketing them up to a No. 5 seed.
On Thursday, they outworked No. 4 seed Winthrop in the second half to earn a 69-55 quarterfinal victory. And on Saturday, in a game Lancer fans will never forget, they rallied from 15 down in the second half to beat No. 1 seed High Point again – this time on their home court, stunning and silencing a raucous sell-out crowd.
In Sunday's championship game, a close-knit team showed this was no fluke. Longwood is the best team in the Big South.
It's hard to overstate just how far Longwood basketball had traveled.
Prior to the arrival of head coach Aldrich in 2018, Longwood had never finished better than eighth in the conference, had just one overall winning season in its Division I history – and none since joining the Big South. Under Aldrich they've now finished fifth or better in the regular season five straight seasons, and won 20 games or more three straight years – a first in program history at any level.
"I think we have really strived, President Reveley, Tim Hall our AD, we've really wanted to build a program, not just a team," Aldrich said. "This has been an institutional effort. This is extremely is rewarding I hope for a lot of people, not just the guys and women in the men's basketball department, but in a lot of departments where people have really worked hard to build this program."
There's still basketball to play.
