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Archives For February 2012

Longwood Legend Set to Return Saturday

February 8, 2012 — Leave a comment

Longwood’s most legendary athlete will be returning to Farmville this weekend for the Lancers matchup with the Red Hawks of Seattle. Former NBA champion Jerome Kersey will be in town for alumni day! Kersey won a title with the Spurs but is most famous for his eleven years in Portland where he was an iron man and was part of a legendary Blazers team with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Cliff Robinson, and Danny Ainge.

Longwood’s all-timer scoring leader Kevin Jefferson will also be in town for the event. Both Jefferson and Kersey will likely be watching Antwan Carter who is likely to surpass both on the all-time scoring list. More recent Lancers from the Division I era who will be in attendance will be Dana Smith, Maurice Sumter, and Billy Robinson Jr.  There will be an alumni game at 11 AM open to the public.

No word yet on if any of these alumni can suit up for the shorthanded Lancers.

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Getting to Know the Big South: Liberty

February 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

Location: Lynchburg, VA
Distance from Farmville: 50 miles, 1 hour
Established: 1971
Students: 13,400 (65,000+ online)
Type: Private/Baptist
Nickname: Flames
Big South Member Since: 1991
Athletics Website: www.libertyflames.com
Fan Website: www.flamefans.com

Just down 460 from Farmville is Liberty University. The Flames sponsor 18 NCAA sports hand have been a member of the Big South for over twenty years now. Liberty sports the largest budget out of any Big South school and has success in various sports. They have had two NCAA national champions in individual cross-country the past couple of years. The men’s basketball program has been to the NCAA tournament twice, most recently in 2004 losing to Saint Joseph’s. The women’s team has also found success going to the Sweet 16 in 2005. The baseball team has also appeared in the NCAA tournament twice (’98, ’00). Currently they have found success with an improving baseball program and in men’s golf.

The Liberty-Longwood Big South rivalry may be very short lived though. The school has their sights set on FBS football and will look to join the Sun Belt Conference, Conference USA, or maybe find a home somewhere else.

Facilities

Vines Center: By far the largest arena in the Big South the 22 year old arena hold just over 8,000 people. The building is a bit dated but added new seating a couple years ago and recently just added a center hung scoreboard.

Worthington Stadium: The stadium has been renovated substantially in recent years and is among one of the finest in the Big South. It holds over 3,000 people for baseball games.

Softball Facility: The Softball field is pretty standard and has room for 500 spectators.

Osborne Stadium: A unique stadium where a concourse is essentially shared with the beautiful football facility, Williams Stadium. Osborne is a really nice stadium with a capacity of 1,000 for Flames softball and lacrosse.

History with Longwood

The Lancers and Flames have been going at it since the days of Jerome Kersey. The men’s basketball team has a 17-8 advantage over the Flames and Liberty is 0-8 all-time at Willett Hall. Since turning D1 Longwood is 15-12-4 across all sports.

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Lancers Lose Tough One on the Road

February 6, 2012 — Leave a comment

Longwood suffered a tough 74-58 loss at South Carolina State tonight. SC State was in the midst of a sixteen game losing streak, which was the longest in school history and the third longest current losing streak in the NCAA. The Lancers were extremely short-handed with just seven healthy players and tried to hang tough. The score at halftime was 35-32.

Coach Mike Gillian unveiled a couple of tactics to keep his team in the game. The Lancers played zone defense for the whole first half to try to conserve energy and avoid contact fouls. The Lancers also worked the shot-clock quite a bit throughout the game. The absence of starting guard Jeremiah Bowman was apparent as Tristan Carey, a natural shooting guard, ran the point for most of the night. Only seven Lancers ended up playing tonight.   TT Carey and Martiz Washington played all 40 minutes, while Antwan Carter played 39 minutes and David Robinson played 35 minutes. Injured  forward Jeff Havenstein was dressed out for the Lancers but was only available for an emergency situation.

Antwan Carter lead the Lancers with 19 points and 12 rebounds for his 34th career double-double. Carter is now 43 points way from passing Jerome Kersey for second on Longwood’s all-time scorer list and 93 points away from passing all-time leader Kevin Jefferson. TT Carey also added 18 points for the Lancers.

The Lancers return home next for a 2PM Saturday matchup against the Seattle Red Hawks (6-13).

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Getting to Know the Big South: VMI

February 6, 2012 — Leave a comment

Location: Lexington, VA
Distance from Farmville: 90 miles, 1 hour 45 minute drive
Established: 1839
Students: 1,500
Type: Public
Nickname: Keydets
Big South Member Since: 2003
Athletics Website: http://www.vmikeydets.com/
Fan Website: http://vmisports.proboards.com/index.cgi?

If you head straight down route 60 then you’re going to run right into Virginia Military Institute, both Lancers’ fans and athletes are about to get very familiar with this drive. VMI joined the Big South in 2003 after leaving the Southern Conference, despite being a member for nearly 80 years. VMI’s most success has come in basketball, in the late seventies they made it to the “elite eight”, then made it to the “sweet sixteen” the following year. VMI has not since won a conference championship of any sort. There best chance came just a couple of years ago when the Keydets were lead by Reggie Williams, who is now a member of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Baseball has been around at VMI since 1866, but amazingly the Keydets have never won a conference championship of any sort. Beyond basketball, baseball, soccer, and cross-country the Keydets sponsor many sports that Longwood does not.

Facilities

Cameron Hall: Cameron Hall has been the home of the Keydets basketball team since 1981. The 5,800 seat facility is one of the most unique atmospheres for a big game in the Big South. It is the third largest arena in the Big South.

Gray-Minor Stadium: VMI has one of the nicest baseball facilities in the Big South. Gray-Minor Stadium was opened in 2007 and holds over 1,400 fans.

Patchin Field: The Keydet soccer complex is about as standard as it gets.

History with Longwood

The Keydets and Lancers faced off in men’s basketball in Willett Hall earlier this year. The Lancers took the game winning 110-89, behind 30 points from sophomore Tristan Carey. The all-time record in basketball is 302 in favor of the Keydets, thus far. The two schools have also squared off in baseball quite a bit, last year the Keydets took the season series winning in Farmville and in Lexington. This fall the men’s soccer team defeated VMI 4-0 in Lexington.

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Jeremiah Bowman Suspended

February 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

Starting senior point guard Jeremiah Bowman has been suspended from the Lancers basketball team for violating Longwood’s student-athlete code of conduct policy.  This makes an already incredibly thin roster even more thin. For the past two games the Lancers have only dressed eight players with injuries to Jeff Havenstein, Mark Parker, and Jeylani Dublin. Also senior guard Durann Neil left the team earlier in the year. David Robinson should be inserted into the starting lineup and guards Steven Shockley and Anthony Taylor will be the only bench players. Shockley and Taylor combine for only two points per game in games that they have played.  Bowman had started every game for the Lancers and was averaging nearly 14 points and 6 assists.

The Lancers next game is at South Carolina State on Tuesday night.

Photo credit: kansan.com

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Getting to Know the Big South: Radford

February 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

Location: Radford, VA
Distance from Farmville: 150 miles, 2 hours 25 minutes
Established: 1910
Students: 8,900
Type: Public
Nickname: Highlanders
Big South Member Since: 1983
Athletics Website:  http://www.ruhighlanders.com/
Fan Website: http://ruhoops.proboards.com/index.cgi

We’ve profiled all of the Big South schools south of Virginia, so today we turn to the home state. Out of the three other Big South schools in Virginia, Radford is the farthest away. Radford is also the only Big South school in Virginia who is a charter member of the conference. When it was announced a couple weeks ago that Longwood would joining the Big South the LancersBlog community voted that the Highlanders would be the Lancers’ top rival in the Big South Conference. Radford sponsor 19 NCAA sports but has yet to find sustained success in the Big South. The Highlanders have won two men’s basketball titles (’98, ’09), three men’s tennis titles (’07-09), and a softball championship in 2009. The men’s soccer team has also had some success, winning the Big South four times and going to the NCAA tournament six times. The Highlanders’ most famous athletic alumni is Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer.

Facilities

Dedmon Center: The 3,200 seat arena was built in 1981. It still has wooden bleachers on the visitors side, so bring a seat cushion Lancers fans.

Cupp Stadium: Built in 2003 the 5,000 seat stadium is one of the Big South’s finest.

Baseball/Softball Stadiums: Pretty standard facilities for both. The baseball stadium holds 700 people.

History with Longwood

For being so close the two schools actually haven’t met too often since the Lancers’ D1 transition. In basketball Radford visited for the home opener in 2004 and had a ten point win. The last time the two met in baseball was in 2010, a 9-6 win for the Lancers. Longwood owns the all-time baseball series lead at 11-7. In softball the both teams have split double-headers over the past two years. This season the men’s soccer team beat Radford, while the women’s team fell to the Highlanders. The two schools share membership in the NorPac Field Hockey Conference, where LU defeated Radford 3-1 on the road this year.

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Lancers Beat Southern Virginia 103-84

February 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

Still battling injury woes from Jeff Havenstein, Mark Parker, and Jeylani Dubln, Longwood beat Southern Virginia 103-84 tonight. All but 7 minutes of the 200 minutes of playing time came from merely six Lancers. Antwan Carter lead the way with 26 and 14 rebounds. Tristan Carey had a monster dunk in the second half:

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Recruiting Around the Big South

February 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

We’ve checked out the four players that have signed a national letter of intent to Longwood for the 2012-13 season (Lucas Woodhouse, Nik Brown, Frank Holloway, and Kirk Staine). But what are the recruiting classes looking like around the Big South conference?

Campbell
Committed
DJ Mason, 6’5,  SF, Bladenboro, NC (West Bladen)

Considering
Dalton Barnes, 5’11, PG, Port Orange, FL (Spruce Creek)

Charleston Southern
Considering
Jarvis Haywood, 6’4, SG, Charlotte, NC (Harding) 2-Star Recruit  SIGNED BY JACKSONVILLE 2/2

Coastal Carolina
Commits
Michael Enanga, 6’6, SF, Montverde, FL (Montverde)

Gardner-Webb
Commits
Isaiah Ivey, 6’2, SG, Frankfurt, KY (Scott County) 2-Star Recruit
Logan Stumpf, 6’6, SF, Camp Hill, PA (Cedar Cliff)

High Point
Commits
Lorenzo Cugini, 6’5, SF, Stow, OH (St Vincents-St Marys) 2-Star Recruit
Cliff Cornish, 6’8, PF, Glen Burnie, MD (North County)

Liberty
Commits
Larry Taylor, 5’10, PG, Englewood, FL (Northport) 2-Star Recruit
Chad Donley, 6’2, PG, Baker, FL (Northwest Florida State College/JUCO)
Juan Coronado, 6’8, PF, Palm Beach, FL (Palm Beach State/JUCO)
Emmanuel Anderson, 5’11, SG, Shelbyville, TN (Cape Fear Community College/JUCO)

Presbyterian
Commits
Shea Jones, 6’1, PG, Weston, FL (Cypress Bay) 2-Star Recruit
Austin Anderson, 6’5, SG, Piedmont, SC (Wren)
Matthew Cintron, 6’7, PF, Atlanta, GA (Woodward)
Jake Campbell, 7’0, C, Centerville, OH (Centerville)

Considering
Dalton Barnes, 5’11, PG, Port Orange, FL (Spruce Creek)
Brian Steele, 6’4, SG, Greenville, SC (Wade Hampton)

Radford
Commits
YaYa Anderson, 6’2, SG, Palmyra, VA (Fluvanna County)
Rashun Davis, 6’0, PG, Charlotte, NC (Davidson)
Lucas Dyer, 6’8, PF, Richmond, VA (Deep Run)
JuWan Wells, 6’6, SF, La Plata, MD (La Plata)

UNC-Asheville
Commits
Sam Hughes, 6’5, SF, Battleboro, NC (Greenfield) 2-Star Recruit
Zach Davis, 6’3, SG, Null, NC (United Faith Christian Academy) 2-Star Recruit

VMI
Commits
Dorian Albritton, 6’4, SF, Charlotte, NC (Davidson)

Winthrop
Commits
Jerron Foster, 5’9, PG, Winston Salem, NC (Southern Idaho JC/JUCO)
Jackson Trapp, 6’4, SG, Orlando, FL (Fishburne) 2-Star Recruit

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Getting to Know the Big South: High Point

February 2, 2012 — 3 Comments

Location: High Point, NC
Distance from Farmville: 150 miles, 2 hours 45 minutes
Established: 1924
Students: 4,500
Type: Private/Methodist
Nickname: Panthers
Big South Member Since: 1999
Athletics Website: http://www.HighPointPanthers.com
Fan Website: http://hpupanthers.proboards.com/index.cgi?

Our final stop in North Carolina land us at High Point University, home of the Panthers. High Point joined the Big South when they became Division I in 1999. High Point sponsors seventeen NCAA sports since adding men’s lacrosse this year. High Point hasn’t had overwhelming success as a Big South member, but they did win the women’s soccer and volleyball title a year ago. The Panther’s most notable athletic alumni is current Minnesota basketball coach, Tubby Smith.

Facilities

Millis Center: Built in 1992 the Millis Center holds roughly 2,500 spectators. Its a pretty nice facility and I’ve frequently used it as an example of a facility Longwood should model after whenever we build a new arena.

Vert Stadium: The Soccer facility was renovated in 2007 and may be the finest in the Big South. It hold about 1,100 fans and features a turf field and a beautiful facility.

Willard Stadium: Opened in 2007 the softball facility is probably the best in the Big South. It shares the brick architecture with all the other outdoor facility.

History with Longwood

The Lancers and Panthers have actually crossed paths quite a bit. High Point leads the men’s basketball all-time series 13-5 and is 7-1 at home in North Carolina. In 2008 the two schools hooked up in baseball, the Lancers lost the first game 2-3 in extra innings in Farmville but won the second game 9-7 in North Carolina. Both schools are also members of the National Lacrosse Conference.

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2012 Recruitng Class: Kirk Staine, SF

February 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

When the Lancers basketball program set its sights on the Long Island are for 2012 they didn’t just target Lucas Woodhouse. Mike Gillian also signed a small forward from Baldwin High School, Kirk Staine. At first glance signing the 6’6 forward may not look to impressive, he only averaged 2.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game last year, but Staine may have the highest ceiling out of any Lancer recruit as HoopsScoop.com notes:

We also suspect that 6’6 Kirk Stain from Baldwin (H.S.) NY, who verbally committed over the weekend to Longwood, could turn out to be a major steal for the Lancers. He’s one of those multi-dimensional athletic guys who plays hard, shoots the three, and is still flying under the radar screen even though he opened some eyes with his play in early July at the first Hoops Group Camp.

Staine sounds a bit like former Lancer Kirk Williams to me, but with a three point shot. He’s a very athletic prospect who is also one of the top track athletes in the state of New York.  Staine has improved his numbers this year averaging 9 points, 8 rebounds, and nearly 3 blocks per game.  Brown, Holloway, and Woodhouse could have more of an impact for the Lancers right out of the gate for the 2012-13 season, but Staine might just turn out to be the best of the class.

Other Lancers 2012 Recruits:

Nik Brown, PG, Middleburg Academy: http://lancersblog.com/2012/01/29/class-of-2016-nik-brown-pg/

Frank Holloway, PF, Garrett College: http://lancersblog.com/2012/01/30/2012-recruiting-class-frank-holloway-f/

Lucas Woodhouse, PG, Harborfield HS: http://lancersblog.com/2012/01/31/2012-recruiting-class-lucas-woodhouse-pg/

Photo Credit: Max Preps

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