HICKORY, N.C. -- There are moments in life and in sports when words prove inadequate. Instances when language falls hopelessly short of describing the emotions and the visceral thrill of an experience that needed to be seen to be believed.
 
Over the course of two and a half drama-filled hours, Lincoln Memorial and Lenoir-Rhyne provided a spectacle that only sports can deliver, as the 15th-ranked Railsplitters (5-1, 2-0 SAC) went into a hostile environment and defeated the unbeaten Bears (6-1, 2-1 SAC) 123-122 in a four-overtime thriller at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
 
Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) led the way for the Railsplitters with a career-high 29 points and 20 rebounds, notching only the 10th 20-rebound game in the history of the men's basketball program and the first since his teammate Curtis McMillion (Fayetteville, N.C.) grabbed 20 boards against Bob Jones on November 30, 2013.
 
Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) had 28 points, which included both the game-winning basket with two seconds left in the fourth overtime and the game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) had 21 points and eight rebounds, while Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) produced 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. McMillion accounted for 13 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out after 22 minutes of work. Curtis Webb (Spartanburg, S.C.) added 10 points in 28 minutes off of the bench.
 
Will Perry led Lenoir-Rhyne with 41 points on 13-of-21 shooting and a 7-of-11 mark from three-point range. Rob Noyes tallied 15 points and 18 rebounds, while Billy Bales knocked down five three-pointers on his way to scoring 20 points. Keenan Palmore also finished with a double-double before becoming one of four starters to foul out for the Bears, notching 14 points and 12 boards. Reed Lucas produced 12 points, but went just 4-for-16 from the field.
 
Nobody could have possibly predicted the drama that would later unfold at the end of the first half, as the Railsplitters came storming out of the gate at the start.
 
After a bucket by Palmore tied the game at 4-4 early, Lincoln Memorial would go on a 16-4 run to grab a 20-8 lead on a basket by Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) with 14:24 left in the half. Back-to-back three-pointers from Perry and Bales trimmed LMU's lead to 20-16 less than two minutes later, but the Railsplitters would increase the lead back to double figures at 29-19 on two free throws from Webb. A layup by Lucas brought the Bears to within five at 31-26 with 6:52 remaining in the first, however, Lincoln Memorial ended the half on an 18-8 run, capped by Tim Pierce's (Albany, Ga.) buzzer-beating three, to take a 49-34 lead into the break.
 
The Railsplitters opened the second half on a 7-0 run to drive out to their largest lead of the game at 56-36 with just 17:50 remaining. But the game was far from over, as Lincoln Memorial went absolutely ice cold from that point on, finishing the second half shooting 37.5 percent with a 2-for-13 mark from three-point range.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne took advantage of that shooting funk and steadily chipped away at the Railsplitters' lead, using a 9-0 run to pull to within nine points at 58-49 on a three-ball by Bales with 14:28 to play. A jumper by McMillion pushed LMU's lead back to 64-51 just minutes later, but a bucket from Noyes cut it to 66-58 at the 9:13 mark. Choice extended the Railsplitters' edge to 10 on a layup at 7:15, but the lead was whittled back to 70-65 by the 6:43 mark following two free throws by Perry and a Jacques Chambers trey.
 
The Bears continued to push and finally erased that 20-point deficit completely on a three-pointer by Bales, which knotted the game at 74-74 with 2:59 to play. Perry would then score six straight points for Lenoir-Rhyne to stunningly put the Bears in front 80-76 with just 69 seconds left in regulation.
 
McMillion knocked down a free throw to make it a one-possession game, while Bales missed what would have been a dagger on the other end of the floor, giving the Railsplitters a chance to tie the game in their final possession. Following a timeout, Simmons buried a three-pointer from the left wing with 12 seconds left to draw the game at 80 apiece. Perry's game-winning shot was blocked on the other end of the floor to send the game into overtime.
 
The Railsplitters jumped out to an 86-82 lead two minutes into the first overtime, but three straight three-pointers by Perry turned the tide and put Lenoir-Rhyne in the lead at 91-89 with 40 seconds left. It was Choice who came up clutch this time around, though, as he beat his defender on a drive to the bucket and tied the game at 91-91. Perry got another chance to win the game for the Bears, but his shot fell short and forced a second overtime.
 
A layup by Simmons staked the Railsplitters to a 102-97 lead with only a minute left to play in the second overtime. But Perry once again refused to let his team go quietly, knocking down the game-tying jumper with four seconds left to conclude his own 8-3 run, which sent the game into a third overtime.
 
The Railsplitters twice faced a two-point deficit in the third overtime, as they trailed 113-111 following a Darrion Evans bucket with 1:08 to go. But Simmons was fouled on the ensuing LMU possession and tied the game by knocking down both free throws. After Lenoir-Rhyne came up empty on its next possession, the Railsplitters had a chance to end it, but Simmons could not connect on his three-point try from the top of the key.
 
Lincoln Memorial finally seemed to seize control in the fourth overtime, as two free throws by Simmons and back-to-back buckets by Pinson fueled a 6-0 run that gave the Railsplitters a 119-113 lead with 3:05 left. But that lead quickly melted away, as the Bears fought back to cut the deficit to 121-119 on a bucket by Bobby Stenborg.
 
Following two costly LMU turnovers, the Bears in-bounded the ball on their side of the floor with just over 30 seconds left with a chance to tie or take the lead. Justice Morgan got the first look at it, but his three-pointer missed and took a big bounce to midcourt, where it was picked up by Evans. In the ensuing scramble, Evans hit a wide open Reed, who canned a three-pointer from the right wing to give Lenoir-Rhyne a one-point lead.
 
The Railsplitters quickly got the ball back in play, raced down the floor and hit Simmons, who beat his man off of the dribble and banked in a six-foot floater with two seconds left to lift Lincoln Memorial to the 123-122 victory.
 
In the first four-overtime game in the history of the Lincoln Memorial men's basketball program, the Railsplitters finished shooting 47.9 percent from the floor, 25.9 percent from the three and 68.6 percent from the free throw line. By comparison, Lenoir-Rhyne shot 43 percent from the field, 39 percent from three and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe.
 
The Railsplitters owned a 62-54 advantage on the glass and feasted in the paint, outscoring the Bears 70-34 inside of the square. But Lenoir-Rhyne knocked down 16 three-pointers and scored 22 second-chance points off of 15 offensive boards.
 
Quick Hits
The Railsplitters avoided their first loss to Lenoir-Rhyne since 2010 and extended their winning streak against the Bears to 11, improving to 14-8 in the all-time series in the process...Lincoln Memorial's 46 made field goals is tied for the fourth-most in the program's single-game history - that is the most field goals for the program since 2012, when they registered 51 against Mars Hill...The 245 combined points is the most on record in the history of the LMU men's basketball program...Will Perry's 41 points are the most by an LMU opponent since Mars Hill's Sammy Emile scored 50, albeit in regulation, in January of 2012…The Railsplitters' 62 rebounds are the fourth-most in the program's single-game history
 
Up Next
Lincoln Memorial returns to Tex Turner Arena to face the Coker Cobras in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday, December 5 at 4 p.m. Lenoir-Rhyne also plays on Saturday, traveling to Brevard.