DURHAM, N.C. – A ferocious effort on the boards was just enough for Longwood men's basketball at North Carolina Central this afternoon.
 
The Lancers (7-7) grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, with the 16^th providing the game winner. Elijah Tucker grabbed Redd Thompson's errant attempt with one second left and beat the buzzer with a layup, giving Longwood a 74-72 road win.
 
Longwood dominated the boards, outrebounding North Carolina Central (4-10) 40-27, which led to 15 second-chance points. Tucker was a monster, ripping down six of his nine rebounds on the offensive glass. He wasn't alone on the glass though, as six different Lancers had an offensive board in the game.

"The rebound is the best play in basketball," said Longwood Head Coach Ronnie Thomas. "We have to have the mental mindset in the fact that rebounding can and will win games in the Big South. Every night we need the mindset to put out an effort like that today, being plus-13 and getting 50 percent of our misses. It was fitting that that we were able to win the game on Elijah's offensive rebound."
 
Four other Lancers scored in double figures. Redd Thompson, Jr. and Jacoi Hutchinson led the way with 17 points apiece and four assists apiece as well. Emanuel Richards added 15 points, and Johan Nziemi went 8-10 at the foul line while posting 14 points and seven rebounds.
 
For N.C. Central, Gage Lattimore led the way with 22 points while Khouri Harvey added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Jae Slack also had 17 points.

"We are starting to play with a higher sense of effort, and we strung together a second consecutive game," said Thomas. "Now it is time to become more consistent in that area after this short five-day break. Having the effort piece figured out will allow us to fix certain miscues and clean up the high turnover numbers."
 
The home side got off to a hot start. At the start of the game, Carvey peeled off six straight points, and N.C. Central jumped out to an 8-0 lead.
 
Hutchinson drained a triple to put Longwood on the board, and the Lancers bullied their way inside to work back into the game. Longwood grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the first 11 minutes, leading to six second-chance points.
 
That hustle inside, plus the guard duo of Hutchinson and Thompson, helped the Lancers tie the game at 14 on an Elijah Tucker dunk and then take a 22-21 lead on a Thompson triple a few moments later.
 
Hutchinson followed with his second triple of the game, and Thompson extended the lead to 27-21 with 5:26 to go in the half.
 
However, N.C. Central forced 10 Longwood turnovers, leading to 10 points that led to a 36-36 tie at the break. Hutchinson and Thompson combined for 22 of Longwood's 36 points in the half. Jae Slack had 11 first-half points for North Carolina Central.
 
After halftime, both offenses were unstoppable early. In the first four minutes, N.C. Central went 4-4 from the floor, but Longwood built a five-point lead by going 4-6 from the deck while also going 5-5 at the foul line.
 
The lead grew to 67-56 with a pair of Nziemi free throws, but NCCU answered with a 6-0 run to cut it to 67-62.
 
Richards put home a layup to slow the run with 3:48 to go, but N.C. Central started a parade to the foul line and slowly tied the game with free throws at 72 apiece.
 
That set the stage for Thompson's shot, Tucker's board and the putback for the win.

"We had really bad first three minutes to start the game, starting down 8-0 which I didn't even realize," Thomas added. "And we had a bad last three minutes with two turnovers and a missed layup. However, it says a lot that we were able to find a way and stay the course to respond early and to stay the course late."
 
Longwood now will be off for the holidays, and the team returns to action for its final non-conference game. The Lancers host Averett on Sunday, December 28 at 3 p.m., with the game airing on ESPN+.
 
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