Boiling Springs, N.C. – On senior night at Paul Porter Arena, senior guard DQ Nicholas connected on three free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Gardner-Webb men's basketball team a 72-69 victory over Longwood Thursday evening.

The visiting Lancers, who trailed by 22 points at halftime, tied the game at 69-69 with 1:38 left in the contest. Each team then had two possessions prior to the final one by Gardner-Webb where Nicholas was fouled by Walyn Nappier shooting a three-point shot.

The Dawgs point guard then cooly sank three-straight attempts from the charity stripe to give Gardner-Webb the season series against Longwood for the first time since 2018-19.

Gardner-Webb improved to .500 (15-15 overall) for the first time since the Runnin' Bulldogs were 2-2 back on November 17^th.  The Dawgs are now 10-5 in Big South play, marking a conference record 10^th time in 11 seasons they have won 10-plus league games under head coach Tim Craft.

Graduate-senior Lucas Stieber led four double-figure scorers for the Runnin' Bulldogs against Longwood as he had a game and career-high 20 points, including 5-7 from behind the three-point line. Over his last five games, Stieber has now connected on 18 of 29 (62%) of his three-point attempts.

Nicholas and junior guard Julian Soumaoro followed Steiber with 12 points each for Gardner-Webb. Nicholas, who also dished out six assists, connected on 3 of 5 from behind the three-point line to continue his torrid long-range shooting in conference play.

The Atlanta, Georgia native is now hitting 45% (29-64) from three-point range during Big South action and has scored in double-figures in seven-straight games and 12 of his last 13 contests.

Soumaoro connected on 2 of 5 three-point attempts and has scored in double-figures in five-straight games since coming back from a two-game absence due to injury against Charleston Southern.

Rounding out the quartet of double-figure scorers for the Runnin' Bulldogs was senior guard Quest Aldridge, who has now scored in double-figures in eight of the past 10 games. Aldridge had 11 points, including 2-5 from behind the three-point arc.

Gardner-Webb, which made 56% (14-25) of its three-point shots in the game, connected on 12 of 17 attempts (70.6%) in the opening half.

"The first half shooting the three (point shot), if it wasn't the best, it was one of the best halves we had all season," said Craft, whose team took a 40-28 lead into the locker room at intermission. "The guys came out with a great edge, a great sense of urgency. We defended well and obviously played great on offense."

In the second half, Longwood used an 11-4 advantage on the offensive glass to get back into the game and erase a 22-point deficit. The Lancers, who had a 40-29 overall rebounding advantage outscored the Dawgs 41-22 after intermission.

"Credit Longwood in the second half," Craft said. "They played well. They were attacking. There's a mental advantage when you're down because you start to play desperately. You just let it go, while on the other side you tend to play a bit causal when you have such a big lead. Unfortunately, we couldn't stop them (Longwood) in the second half. We couldn't guard them."

Longwood, which falls to 17-13 overall (5-10 in Big South), was led by Napper with 14 points and five rebounds. Emanuel Richards followed with 13 points and five boards. Elijah Tucker netted 11 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while D'Avia Houston chipped in 10 points for the Lancers, who outscored Gardner-Webb 46-14 in the paint.

Senior guard Caleb Robinson (eight points, eight rebound) and redshirt junior Isiah Richards (seven points, five rebounds) also played solid games for the Runnin' Bulldogs who shot 45.1% (23-51) for the game and 60% (12-20) from the free-throw line.

UP NEXT:  Gardner Webb will return to action Saturday afternoon when the Runnin' Bulldogs visit Winthrop for a 2PM tipoff at the Winthrop Coliseum. Gardner-Webb, which rallied from 18 points down to defeat the Eagles 79-74, back on January 20^th is seeking a sweep of a fourth Big South opponent this season.

At Longwood on 1/24, Gardner-Webb set a Big South Conference record for three-point shooting percentage, hitting 12-13 (92.3%).

The Runnin 'Bulldogs went 11-11 from behind the three-point line to open the contest vs Longwood which was three shy of the NCAA record of 14-straight set by Ohio State vs Wisconsin back on March 6, 2011.