CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College men's basketball team cut a 15-point deficit to four in the final minutes of its Saturday night contest to Longwood, but the visiting Lancers held on to win at the Templeton Center, 71-67.
Both teams move to 7-16 overall and 3-7 in the Big South Conference. PC will next play at Campbell on Tuesday while Longwood will host Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Jordan Downing (Huntersville, N.C.) paced PC with 28 points to tie a season high and scored 20 of those in the second half. Longwood's Leron Fisher led his team with 26 points, several of which came from big shots down the stretch to keep the Blue Hose at bay. Quincy Taylor chipped in with 14.
PC trailed by four in the final minute following a Downing three-pointer with 51 seconds left. Forty seconds later, Ed Drew (Suffolk, Va.) stole an inbounds pass but PC could not convert inside. Longwood missed its ensuing free throw after grabbing the rebound and a final long-range attempt from the Blue Hose missed as Longwood won, 71-67.
Longwood shot 51.0 percent from the floor, connecting on 55 percent in the second half and making five of their last seven field goals. PC boasted a 34-30 rebounding edge with Drew's team-high eight and outscored the Lancers on second chance points, 16-6.
Markus Terry (Johns Creek, Ga.) scored 10 points for the Blue Hose while freshman DeSean Murray (Stanley, N.C.) added nine to score below double-digits for the first time in his career.
Longwood shot 48 percent in the first half en route to its 35-27 lead at the break. The Lancers jumped out to an early lead by way of a 7-0 run from tip-off before seven points from Ruben Arroyo-Felix helped PC cut the gap to three points with 11 minutes left in the half, 12-9.
Unfortunately for the Blue Hose, the Lancers then broke off a 14-4 run thanks in part to Fisher's 14 points in the opening stanza. One of his three treys gave the visitors a 29-16 lead with six minutes to go, but PC battled back and DeSean Murray threw down a big dunk late to make it a 33-24 deficit. Downing drained a three-pointer with 21 seconds left to send both teams into halftime with a 35-27 score.
Arroyo-Felix led the Blue Hose with nine points at the break.
PC battled back shortly after halftime, but a 6-0 run in the span of a minute allowed Longwood to restore their double-digit lead five minutes into the half.
Longwood rattled off a 10 point run immediately after to go up by 15. PC refused to quit and eventually cuts the gap to nine with help of Downing. Markus Terry pulled PC back to within single digits on a slick layup in transition soon after as well.
Following a Longwood free throw, Ed Drew fought off a foul and finished a tough bucket inside before missing the ensuing free throw. DeSean Murray grabbed the rebound, converted a layup and drained a free throw to complete an old-fashioned three point play of his own. The five point swing cut Longwood's lead to 58-54 with 5:38 to go.
Leron Fisher continued his hot shooting for a seven-point Longwood lead, setting the stage for back-and-forth action that saw PC fall just short.
