HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Following Tuesday's win over Carson-Newman in a highly-anticipated, early-season slugfest, Lincoln Memorial head coach Josh Schertz challenged his team to compete at a championship level for 40 minutes without the influence of external circumstances.
 
And the 17th-ranked Railsplitters (4-1) answered the bell, limiting the visiting Virginia-Wise Cavaliers (0-5) to a 5-for-30 mark from three-point range in a 114-69 thrashing at Tex Turner Arena on Saturday afternoon.
 
"It was a good team win," Schertz said after the game. "We got some good individual performances and we were balanced. I thought we did a pretty good job on both sides of the ball. We had spurts early in the first half, early in the second half and late in the game where maybe we weren't as in tune as need be, but I thought that was our best second half in terms of competing and playing all the way through."
 
For the fourth straight game, at least four players hit double figures for the Railsplitters, who shot 56.6 percent from the field, knocked down 13 of 29 from three-point range, went 15 for 27 at the charity stripe, and scored their most points in a game since unraveling 131 points against Mars Hill on January 11, 2012.
 
Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the way with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, while both Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) and Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) registered 16 points apiece. Hunter Spaw (Bean Station, Tenn.) notched a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 12 minutes off of the bench. Despite being limited to just 15 minutes by foul trouble, Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) finished ever so close to a triple-double, accounting for six points with a game-high 11 rebounds and nine assists. Both Curtis Webb (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) had eight points.
 
On the other end of the floor, Lincoln Memorial limited the Cavaliers to 31.1 percent shooting, which was marred by a brutal 5-for-30 effort from beyond the three-point arc, the worst by an LMU opponent since Newberry went five for 33 from three in February of last season . Virginia-Wise's only bright spot offensively was at the free-throw line, where they went 18 for 21.
 
"I was a little bit concerned about the number of three-point attempts, because we wanted to limit their attempts. But they are so three-oriented that it was hard to do," Schertz said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of at least making them take contested threes and for most of the first half we rebounded the ball well. We probably over-helped some to the point where we gave up some shots we didn't want to and we were fortunate they missed a couple. Overall, I'd give our defense a B or B-minus in terms of where it needs to be in order to beat some of the elite teams that are coming up on our schedule."
 
The Railsplitters led by more than 20 points before the first half even reached the midway point.
 
After a three-point play from Camryn Fort put the Cavaliers in front, 3-2, at the 18:49 mark, the Railsplitters ripped off a 27-5 run over the next eight minutes to assume a 29-8 advantage on a three-pointer by Webb with 11:02 left in the half. Lincoln Memorial hit 10 of its 15 shots over that stretch, including four of six from three, while Virginia-Wise made just one of its 11 shot attempts.
 
The Railsplitters' first-half cushion would grow as large as 55-24 on a three-pointer from Simmons with 1:46 left, but the Cavaliers closed on an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to 55-32 at the break.
 
The first eight minutes of the second half saw the Railsplitters author a 27-9 run to extend the lead to 82-41 on Webb's second three-pointer of the game at the 12:26 mark. Lincoln Memorial would never lead by less than 38 points after that, as they widened the gap to 52 points on a three-point play from Spaw with 3:18 to play. Virginia-Wise would score 11 of the game's final 15 points to cut the final score to 114-69.
 
The Railsplitters won the rebounding battle, 51-43, and assisted on 22 of their 43 field goals. Lincoln Memorial scored 28 points off of 14 Virginia-Wise turnovers and dominated the paint to the tune of a 42-22 scoring advantage. The Railsplitters' bench outscored the Cavaliers' second unit, 50-20.
 
Matt Day led the Cavaliers with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Camryn Fort had 12 points and three rebounds in 13 minutes. Philip Owens II was the only other Virginia-Wise player in double figures, as he notched 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
 
Quick Hits
The Railsplitters committed just six turnovers and didn't allow a single point off of those miscues. That was the fewest turnovers in a single-game for LMU since turning the ball over only five times against Carson-Newman in February, 2015...13 of the 14 players to appear in the game for the Railsplitters scored at least two points...Jalen Steele has scored double-digit points in all five games this season with at least 18 points in his last three appearances...The Railsplitters led for 97.5 percent of Saturday's contest and trailed for only 29 seconds total...Lincoln Memorial improved to 6-3 all-time against UVa-Wise and extended its winning streak over the Cavs to three
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters head to Hickory, N.C. on Wednesday, December 2 to face the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears at 6 p.m. The Bears are off to a 6-0 start with a 2-0 record in South Atlantic Conference play under new head coach Ryan Odom. Lincoln Memorial will be looking to defeat L-R for the 11th straight time since 2011.