WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A feisty Longwood men's basketball side gave Wake Forest everything the Demon Deacons (9-3) could handle on Wednesday night.
 
Redd Thompson, Jr. was scintillating down the stretch, and the gutsy Lancers (6-7) were tied with less than a minute down the stretch. Unfortunately, Wake Forest escaped with a 71-68 win at the LJVM Coliseum.
 
Thompson poured in a career-best 22 points, including 11 straight that helped the Lancers erase a 10-point second-half deficit. He drained a career-high six triples and had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but it went just wide.
 
Elijah Tucker and Johan Nziemi, meanwhile provided a bruising interior presence that coupled well with Thompson's perimeter eruption. Tucker bulldozed his way to 13 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season, while adding three assists. Nziemi, meanwhile, went 7-8 at the foul line en route to scoring 13 points, and he added a career-high six assists.
 
Wake Forest had three in double figures, which was just enough. The Lancer defense held a Wake Forest side that had scored 111 points on Sunday to only 71 points on 40 percent shooting. Juke Harris led the way with 19 points while going 11-14 from the foul line. Nate Calmese added 12 points on 5-6 shooting, and Myles Colvin had 11 points, including the go-ahead three with less than a minute to play.

"I thought our guys stayed true to the game plan and really relied on one another to execute," said Longwood Head Coach Ronnie Thomas. "I feel like we took a step in that direction of executing and playing as a unit. If this team plays together and with that effort, we have the right guys to reach all of our goals come conference play."
 
The game was tight throughout the night, as neither team led by more than four points in the first 20 minutes.
 
Nziemi and Tucker were a problem early, with Nziemi scoring seven points to go with all five of his assists. Tucker added six points, and Thompson sank two triples while scoring eight.
 
Longwood piled up 18 points in the paint in the first half, outscoring Wake Forest by six in the painted area, to take a 34-30 lead into the break.
 
After halftime, Calmese started and capped a 9-2 run for Wake Forest as the home side went 4-6 from the floor during the run, but Longwood wasn't done.
 
Thompson stymied the run with a three, but the Wake Forest defense forced eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes to keep Longwood out of rhythm. That allowed the Demon Deacons to stretch the lead to 10.
 
However, Longwood never stopped battling. The defense held Wake Forest for more than four minutes, and Thompson got hot. The sophomore ripped off 11 straight points at one point, including a logo three from straightaway that tied the game at 65 all with 90 seconds to play.

"We went down 10 late in the second half, and it was the first large advantage we faced," Thomas said. "Credit to our guys for sustaining their effort and staying together. Nobody broke it off, and we worked hard to get great shots, even taking it late into the clock. I thought that was a big reason why we assisted on 16 of our 22 made baskets."
 
Harris answered with free throws to give Wake the lead again, but Jacoi Hutchinson tied it back up at 67 with free throws of his own with one minute to play.
 
Colvin buried the dagger on Wake's next possession, and the answering triple rimmed out for the Lancers. The Lancers kept it within three, but Thompson's game-tying try at the buzzer refused to go down.
 
The Lancers wrap up the two-game road swing with a trip to North Carolina Central on Saturday. Tip is set for 2 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN+.
 
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