Freshman guard Jesse Longmire brings a unique skill set to Keystone Photo by Larry Radloff, D3photography.com

By Rob Knox
D3hoops.com

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Keystone College interim men's basketball coach Brad Cooper had one simple goal for his team against La Verne College.

"We wanted to really attack the basket from the start of the game," Cooper said.

Mission accomplished.

The Giants unleashed a furious assault on the basket that yielded a 73-64 victory over the University of La Verne in the Hoopsville Classic Saturday afternoon at Stevenson University. It was La Verne's first loss of the year.

• More photos from this game
• Day 1: Cabrini finds its finish
• Day 1: Stevenson gets statement win
• Day 2: Panthers bounce back

It was a much different strategy for Keystone than the one it used against Trinity in a loss on Friday. In that game, the Giants hoisted 45 three-pointers. Against La Verne, the Giants attempted 12 three-pointers. Instead of trying to shoot from distance, Keystone went hard to the rack. In ending a two-game losing streak, the Giants attempted more foul shots (42) than field goals (40) in earning the wire-to-wire victory.

"I thought we did a good of attacking instead of settling for threes when we came off screens today," Cooper said. "La Verne took away the three-point line and that opened up some opportunities for us."

Despite battling the flu, Keystone freshman guard Jesse Longmire was a whirling dervish of activity. The cough he experienced didn't stop him from driving to the basket and finishing with a career-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Duncan Lunsford added 21 points to lead Keystone. Both players attempted 12 foul shots. Dan Candemeres, who attempted 19 three-pointers Friday, made his only three-point try. He finished with 15 points.

"We still played the same pace today, but today we made an effort to keep attacking the rim," Longmire said. "We wanted to come out today to get a win against a good team and stop our losing streak."

Longmire, who is from Harlem, is making a difference for the Giants. He's used to winning and has been a nice addition to Keystone's fast-paced offense. A 6-4 point guard, Longmire can drive past taller defenders and see over smaller ones. He is averaging 14.2 points per game through five games and has reached double figures in scoring four times on the young season. Longmire credits his teammates for helping him to play with an edge and keep improving.

"It starts in practice because my teammates push me every single day and I am thankful for that strong competition," Longmire said. "At this level, dudes are faster and stronger. I like the up-tempo style because I like to get out and run. It was one of the things that attracted me to the school. Plus, we get a chance to turn the other team over."

Longmire was an equal opportunity scorer as he had eight in the first half and 12 in the second half.

Keystone was at its attacking best to start the game and the beginning of the second half. The Giants swooshed to a 10-2 lead four minutes into the game. Then Keystone roared out of the locker room scoring the first eight points as part of a 14-2 burst to open a 49-37 advantage with 16:13 remaining. Even though La Verne, got to within, 55-51 with less than nine minutes remaining, it could get no closer.

La Verne was led in scoring by Ronn See’s 14 points. Eric Becker added 10 points for the Leopards, who had at least 12 players see at least 10 minutes of action.

"Keystone had a great game plan coming in," La Verne coach Richard Reed said. "They switched from man to zone when we brought in our shooter off the bench and they did a nice job of confusing us early with their switching defenses."

La Verne enjoys a home game

Even though La Verne split its games this weekend, the Leopards were the clear winner in the fan support category against Keystone.  There were over 100 fans cheering for the Leopards on Saturday despite only two players with hometowns listed in the Eastern Time Zone. The crowd along with the white jerseys the Leopards were wearing made it feel like a home game for La Verne despite being 3,000 miles from its campus. The players were excited to see many familiar faces in attendance.

Hakim Arnold’s family drove the six hours from Danville (Va.) to watch the game. Niall Harrison is from Baltimore and he had many supporters. Also Karl Reyes had his extended family from Baltimore at the game as well. One touching moment following the final buzzer involved Arnold, who hugged one of his young family members after the game. The Leopards enjoyed their experience on the East Coast and grabbed plenty of memories to share on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

The Leopards practiced at Georgetown University and ate some great food. Among some of the landmarks they visited were the Washington Monument, and the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.

"The fan support was great this weekend," Arnold said. "We are truly blessed to be playing here on the East Coast and in a tournament like this. This trip was awesome and we got an opportunity to do a lot of things that we’ll remember for a long time."

Reiger finds the range to help Ohio Wesleyan

Once the first three-pointer splashed through the basket and the second one found nothing but net, Ohio Wesleyan senior guard Taylor Rieger knew he had found his groove. He buried six three-pointers – all in the second half – to help the Battling Bishops defeat Trinity (Texas) 75-64 in the nightcap of Saturday's Hoopsville Classic. Rieger scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to help Ohio Wesleyan raise its overall record to 2-1.

"We were able to move the ball in and out in the second half, which helped our shooters get some open looks," Rieger said. "I hit one shot and then they all started falling. It kind of made up for that first half when I couldn't make many shots. This was a good team win and I was glad I was able to make a few shots."

Reiger is one of the best shooters in the Great Lakes region. He was a second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection, leading the league in three-point field goals and ranking 10th in scoring. He is one of three seniors along with Dre White and Reuel Rogers, who expect to lead a young Bobcat team to success this season.

Rogers added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Battling Bishops. Sophomore Claude Gray complemented Reiger's effort with 17 points. Freshman Seth Clark dished out six assists for Ohio Wesleyan. Last season, Rieger was a second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection, leading the league in three-point field goals and ranking 10th in scoring.

"It was good to see some of our young guys make some plays for us down the stretch," Rieger said. "We still have high expectations for this even though people are looking down on us because we lost eight seniors from last year, but we believe we still have a good nucleus returning. We plan to make a run at our conference and the NCAA tournament. Playing in this tournament is great for our team."

Trinity dropped to 2-3 overall despite 14 points from Jonathan Wilt. Also reaching double figures for the Tigers were Robert Kitzinger (12 points) and Matt Hopper (10).

Ohio Wesleyan’s Nick Felhaber thought he lost a contact lens during the first half against the Tigers, which led to a funny moment. With Trinity coach Pat Cunningham on his hands and knees assisting Reiger, Ohio Wesleyan coach Mike DeWitt turned to members of the scorers table and said, "Somebody should take a picture of this." Cunningham responded by saying, “My eyes don’t work anyway and I have glasses.”

Felhaber eventually found his lens, which was stuck in his eye.

Email Rob Knox at rob.knox@d3hoops.com and follow on twitter at @knoxrob1.