HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Senior guard Lorenza Ross (Savannah, Ga.) scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half while sophomore Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) poured in a game-high 25 points to help the 23rd-ranked Railsplitters (2-0) rally for a hard fought 70-63 win over the King Tornado (1-1) on Saturday afternoon at Tex Turner Arena in the SAC vs. Conference Carolinas Challenge. With the win, Lincoln Memorial extended its streak of consecutive nonconference home victories to 30, while also improving to 10-0 all-time against King.
 
Choice knocked down six of his nine three-point tries and eight of his 11 total attempts from the field to rack up a game-high 25 points in 38 minutes of action. The Laurens, S.C. product added four steals and five rebounds to his stat ledger. Ross finished the afternoon with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, but he went 5-for-5 from the field in the second half with 15 points to lead the come-from-behind victory. Sophomore Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) led all players with 12 rebounds to go alongside five points and two steals. Behind Woodson, the Railsplitters outrebounded the Tornado 37-28. Dorian Pinson (Greeneville, S.C.) contributed four points and six rebounds in 19 minutes off of the bench. 
 
The Tornado were clicking on all cylinders early in the contest as three-pointers by CJ Good, Logan Lyle and James Scales staked the visitors from Bristol, Tenn. to a 13-6 lead, and Mikquell Jackson stretched King's lead to 19-11 with a jumper at the 11:39 mark. Coming out of the media timeout, Luquon Choice and Curtis McMillion (Fayetteville, N.C.) did nearly all of the legwork during a 14-0 run that pushed the Railsplitters in front 25-19 with 6:48 left in the half. Choice canned one of his six three-pointers to open the flurry, while McMillion put in a layup and crammed in a dunk in the next two possessions. Choice banged in another three-pointer before Ross and Emanuel Terry (Birmingham, Ala.) finished off the rally with a couple of layups.
 
The Railsplitters' lead would not hold up through halftime, though, as they would go without a bucket for nearly the entire remainder of the second half following Terry's layup at the 6:48 clip. While Lincoln Memorial sputtered, the Tornado poured in three-pointers from Calvin Walker, Lyle and Good to assume a 28-25 edge. A pair of Drew Standifer free throws at the 2:02 mark and a Shamarae Watts layup with 1:45 left extended King's lead to 32-25. But, the Railsplitters stopped the bleeding and seemingly swung the momentum in their final possession of the half, as Choice rattled in his fourth three-pointer of the half with four ticks left to close the gap to 32-28 at the break.
 
Lincoln Memorial carried the momentum from that bucket into the opening passage of the second half as Tim Pierce (Albany, Ga.) notched a steal and a layup and Ross finished off a three-point play at the 19:06 mark to square the game at 33-33. Pierce briefly gave LMU the lead at 35-33 on another lay-in with 18:20 left, but Mack Owens propped the Tornado back in front with a three-pointer just 11 seconds later.  From there, King would cling to a slim lead for a large chunk of time, extending their cushion to 49-45 with 11:24 left on another Lyle trifecta. The Railsplitters fought back to knot the contest at 49-49 on four consecutive free throws by Ross, but Scales corralled an offensive rebound and laid it in with 9:51 remaining to make it 51-49 in King's favor.
 
After the Railsplitters tied it back up, Watts pushed the Tornado in front 53-51 with a layup, but that would be the last time the Tornado would hold the lead. Over the next 3:03 of game clock, Lincoln Memorial churned out a 9-0 run, paced by Choice's seven points over that stretch, to take a 60-53 lead by the 5:47 clip. King would never cut LMU's lead to less than five following that run, as the Railsplitters limited the Tornado to only two field goals in the final 8:50 of regulation.
 
The Railsplitters finished with a 24-for-52 mark from the field (46.2 percent), a 6-for-13 clip (46.2 percent) from behind the three-point arc and a 16-for-24 effort (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. Lincoln Memorial dominated the battle in the paint, outscoring the Tornado 32-18 down low. The Railsplitters converted 14 Tornado turnovers into 18 points.
 
Logan Lyle led King with 16 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-10 shooting from three-point range. James Scales chipped in with 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting, while Mack Owens posted seven points and six rebounds in 18 minutes of action off the bench. The Tornado finished shooting 41.5 percent (21-51) from the field and 36 percent (9-25) from three-point range.
 
Saturday's meeting with King was the eighth time in 10 total head-to-head encounters that the contest has been decided by less than 10 points. The Railsplitters are 10-0 all-time in the series, but they have not defeated the Tornado by double figures since November 23, 2010.
 
With the season-opening weekend in the books, the Railsplitters will direct their attention to South Atlantic Conference play. Lincoln Memorial is set to host the Mars Hill Lions in the SAC opener at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19. The Railsplitters will be vying for their 11th consecutive win over Mars Hill.