HARROGATE, Tenn. -- One journey has ended and another one begins on Wednesday night as the third-ranked and top-seeded Railsplitters (27-1) welcome the eight-seeded Brevard Tornados (12-16) to Tex Turner Arena for the quarterfinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Championship.
 
The winner of Wednesday's 7 p.m. tip-off advances to the semifinals of the SAC Championship - which will be hosted at Furman University's Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. - to take on the winner between No. 4 Queens and No. 5 Wingate on Saturday.
 
The Railsplitters tidied up the four-month marathon of a regular season with a 60-57 win over the Catawba Indians on Saturday in Salisbury, N.C. Lincoln Memorial found a way to win despite registering its worst shooting performance since November 24, 2009, logging a 34.4 percent clip from the floor. Thankfully, the Railsplitters dominated on the defensive end by limiting Catawba to 33.5 percent shooting and a 2-for-13 mark from three-point territory. Keenan Peterson (College Park, Ga.) collected his seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Curtis McMillion (Fayetteville, N.C.) pitched in 11 points on a team-best 5-for-6 shooting.
 
The Railsplitters head into postseason play just one win away from tying their own South Atlantic Conference single-season record for wins. Last season, Lincoln Memorial reset the SAC record for wins and winning percentage with a 28-3 overall mark. Regardless of Wednesday's outcome, the Railsplitters already own three of the four winningest seasons in league history: 28 (2013-14), 27 (2010-11) and 27 (2014-15). Presbyterian is the only other team to have won 27 games in a season on two different occasions in SAC history, but there were 10 years separating the first (1992-93) and second (2002-03) occurrence.
 
Lincoln Memorial is the No. 1 seed in the South Atlantic Conference Championship for the fourth time in the past four seasons. The Railsplitters ended up winning the SAC regular season title by eight games, far and away the widest gap between the first and second-place team in league history. Newberry and Carson-Newman finished second in the league with 13-9 marks.
 
While the Railsplitters' seed has been known for the better part of two weeks, the Brevard Tornados were forced to make a stunning and improbable run to earn a return trip to the SAC tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Needing two wins in a three-day span as well as an Anderson loss, Brevard rallied from as large as an 11-point deficit to defeat Mars Hill in triple overtime on Thursday, then overcame a 15-point second-half deficit to beat the Wingate Bulldogs on Saturday. The final domino in the Tornados' miraculous run fell just minutes before Brevard's win over the Bulldogs as Anderson suffered an 80-68 loss to Queens.
 
Wednesday marks the third meeting between Lincoln Memorial and Brevard since January 28 and the second in the past week-and-a-half.
 
The Railsplitters completely dominated the first encounter, shooting 51.7 percent from the field and limiting the Tornados to a 29.3 percent mark in an 88-49 victory at Tex Turner Arena in late January. Lincoln Memorial outscored Brevard by 23 points in the first half alone. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) scored 24 points on 7-for-14 shooting, Peterson produced 16 points and 15 rebounds, Lorenza Ross (Savannah, Ga.) pitched in 14 points and six assists, and Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.
 
Last Monday's (February 23) clash was significantly different, even though the outcome ultimately remained the same. The Railsplitters erased a one-point halftime deficit and outscored the Tornados by 13 in the second half to capture an 87-75 win at Boshamer Gymnasium. The Tornados shot 48.4 percent in the opening frame, but LMU held them to 34.6 percent shooting with nine field goals in the second stanza. Choice poured in 27 points with six rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while Emanuel Terry (Birmingham, Ala.) notched 15 points and 11 rebounds in the 19 second-half minutes.
 
Brevard is led by the dynamic and efficient scoring duo of Darius Moose and Trevon Shaw. Moose averages 17.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game on 47.2 percent shooting, while Shaw is pouring in 16.2 points and grabbing 4.2 rebounds per game on a 48.3 percent mark. 
 
The Railsplitters are 15-3 all-time against the Tornados with an unblemished 9-0 mark in Tex Turner Arena. Lincoln Memorial enters Wednesday's match-up with an eight-game winning streak in the series. The two teams have never met in postseason play.
 
The reigning AstroTurf SAC Player of the Week, Choice is on the verge of becoming just the second player in league history to knock down 100 three-pointers in a single season. The Laurens, S.C. native leads the conference and ranks sixth nationally in triples with 97. Tusculum's Kyle Moore set the SAC single-season mark with 117 three-pointers in 2009-10.
 
The Railsplitters have advanced to the semifinal round of the SAC Championship in each of the past six seasons. Lincoln Memorial is 9-2 in the league tournament since the 2010-11 season.
 
There will be no complimentary admission to Wednesday's quarterfinal round match-up. Admission is $6 for adults, and $3 for college students with a valid student ID, senior citizens (60+) and children under 12. The LMU President's Office will be sponsoring the cost of admission for the first 100 LMU or J. Frank White Academy students to sign in at the front entrance to the arena. The doors open at 5:45.
 
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Harrogate, Tenn. Live stats and an HD video broadcast will be accessible through www.LMURailsplitters.com. Fans can also tune in to Voice of the Railsplitters Rusty Peace at WLMU 91.3 the Gap or at www.913thegap.com. Pre-game coverage gets underway at 6:40.

Live Stats
Video
Audio