HARROGATE, Tenn. -- One of the youngest teams in the South Atlantic Conference comes calling on Saturday afternoon as the No. 1/2 Railsplitters (17-0, 11-0 SAC) welcome the Catawba Indians (7-9, 5-6 SAC) to Tex Turner Arena for a 4 p.m. tip.
 
After sludging through a 7-19 record and missing out on the SAC Championship with a 7-15 league record in 2013-14, Catawba and longtime head coach Jim Baker mutually parted ways, ending Baker's 20-year tenure at the helm of men's basketball program. Rob Perron - the former associate head coach at Newberry - was then selected to take over the program in early May. Perron's hiring has paid immediate dividends for a Catawba program that had compiled a 19-39 record in South Atlantic Conference play over the past three seasons combined, as the Indians have already matched last season's win total with 12 regular-season games remaining on the schedule. The Indians are right in the thick of the SAC race, sitting in a four-way tie with Carson-Newman, Brevard and Lenoir-Rhyne for sixth in the league standings.
 
The Indians have been able to make some noise despite featuring one of the youngest rotations in the SAC, as the senior-less Catawba squad has seen two freshmen and two sophomores appear in all 16 games this season. Junior KJ Arrington leads the Indians and ranks second in the SAC in scoring with 18.3 points per game. Arrington also leads Catawba in rebounding with 7.9 boards per appearance. Jerrin Morrison is the frontrunner in the SAC Freshman of the Year race as the guard is pouring in 16.8 points and grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Rakeen Brown has been a huge factor for the Indians this season, averaging 15.4 points and dishing out 3.7 assists per game, but he has not played since a loss at Newberry on January 7. Freshman Jameel Taylor is averaging 8.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 11 starts for the Indians this season.
 
Catawba arrives in Harrogate following its worst offensive performance of the season in a 65-54 loss at Wingate on Wednesday night. The Indians shot 34.5 percent from the floor and turned in a dismal 4-for-16 mark from three-point territory as Wingate held the visiting unit 26 points below their season scoring average. Morrison (14) and Taylor (12) were the lone players to cross into double figures in the scoring column for the Indians. Prior to that loss to the Bulldogs, Catawba had knocked off Mars Hill and Coker in succession.
 
The Indians will get by far their toughest test of the season on Saturday as the top-ranked and undefeated Railsplitters are clicking on all cylinders. Lincoln Memorial is currently riding the longest winning streak in the nation and the second-longest winning streak to open a season in program history with 17 consecutive wins. In the midst of that stretch, the Railsplitters have won nine straight by at least 10 points and compiled a stretch of 155 minutes without trailing by a single point. The boys in Blue and Gray have not been behind in a game since the 15-minute mark of the first half in a win at Wingate on January 20.
 
The Railsplitters captured their third straight wire-to-wire victory on Wednesday night in a 96-64 throttling of the Mars Hill Lions. Lincoln Memorial shot the rock at a 58.2 percent clip, compiled a 26-for-41 effort at the charity stripe and assisted on 16 of its 32 buckets, as six different players scored at least nine points in the contest. Emanuel Terry (Birmingham, Ala.) tallied a career-high 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting in just 14 minutes, while Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) matched that game-high effort with 16 points and three three-pointers. Keenan Peterson (College Park, Ga.) and Lorenza Ross (Savannah, Ga.) added 12 points apiece, and Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) chipped in 10 points in 23 minutes.
 
It's well documented by this point in the season that an imposing and crippling defense (ranked No. 1 in the nation in field-goal defense) paired with an efficient and productive offense has been paramount to the Railsplitters' success, but a team-wide and unquantifiable unselfishness has also played a central role in LMU's 17-0 start. The Railsplitters are ranked second in the SAC and 35th in the nation with 16.4 assists per game, posting seven games with at least 20 assists including a 30-assist explosion against Tennessee Wesleyan on November 29. Ross is leading the Railsplitters in the assist category with 5.4 per game, fronting a group of five players averaging better than 1.5 assists per contest.
 
The Railsplitters have defeated the Indians three straight times dating back to an 82-65 win in Harrogate on March 2, 2013. Catawba won seven of the first eight meetings against the Railsplitters, but LMU has since won eight of the past 10 head-to-head encounters.
 
Lincoln Memorial and Catawba are scheduled to get underway at 4 p.m. in Harrogate, Tenn. Live stats and an HD video broadcast will be available via www.LMURailsplitters.com, while fans can also listen along with Voice of the Railsplitters Rusty Peace at WLMU 91.3 the Gap.

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