Farmville Va. – Rashad West scored a game-high 19 points to lead four Hampton players in double-figures and freshman Mike Freeman posted his third double-double of the season to guide the Pirates to an 80-59 victory over Longwood Monday night.  Hampton dominated inside outscoring the Lancers 46-18 in the paint and shooting 53% for the game to improve to 7-11, while Longwood dropped its sixth straight to fall to 6-16.

The Lancers came out of the gate early and led 14-7 just two minutes into the game following a three-pointer by Husein Pistoljevic.  The lead swelled to as many as 10 (22-12) with 13:54 to play in the first half before the Pirates made a run of their own.

Theo Smalling ended a three-minute scoring drought for the Pirates with a jumper in the lane that ignited a 15-5 Hampton run.  Baskets by Junior Pehoua and Adrian Woodard got the lead to single digits and Freeman’s layup with 8:30 on the clock evened the game at 27 apiece.

Hampton took its first lead, 31-29, on Demario Mattox’s layup and the Pirates outscored the Lancers 12-7 over the next six minutes to take a 43-36 lead into the break.  The 43 first half points matched the season-high the Pirates scored in a win at St. Bonaventure back on Dec. 20.

The Pirates’ lead remained in double digits throughout the second thanks to numerous easy baskets in the paint by Matt Pilgrim (11 points) and Mike Freeman.  Longwood managed to cut the deficit to 61-51 with 6:33 to play on a free throw by Clayton Morgan, but that was as close as the Lancers could get.  Pilgrim and Freeman combined to score 14 points down the stretch to fight off any Longwood hopes of a comeback.

The MEAC Rookie of the Week, Freeman led the Pirates inside with 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, while Junior Pehoua was the other Hampton player in double figures with 12.