JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- Junior guard Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) matched Lincoln Memorial's single-game record for three-pointers and scored a career-high 38 points to lead the seventh-ranked Railsplitters (17-2, 13-0 SAC) past the Carson-Newman Eagles (11-8, 7-6 SAC) 100-89 in Jefferson City, Tenn. on Wednesday night.
 
The battle between two of the nation's three most efficient offensive teams lived up to the hype, as there weren't many missed shots to go around at Holt Fieldhouse. The Railsplitters finished 36-for-62 from the field for a 58.1 percent clip, while the Eagles went 33-for-54 from the floor to record a 61.1 percent mark, which is the second-highest field-goal percentage by an LMU opponent of the Josh Schertz era. But the difference came from three-point territory, where Lincoln Memorial bombed in 16 of its 32 attempts as compared to a 7-for-16 effort by Carson-Newman.
 
Choice was the catalyst for LMU's sharpshooting, as the Laurens, S.C. native matched his teammate Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) for the single-game program record for three-pointers by draining 10 of his 17 tries. The junior shooting guard finished 14-for-22 from the field with a career-high 38 points coupled with four rebounds and two assists. Choice's career night could have been even better, too, as he scored his last points of the game with 11 minutes left in regulation. 
 
"Luquon was extraordinary tonight," Schertz said. "For the first 29 minutes of the game, that's as dominant of an offensive performance as I've ever seen in my 18 years in this profession. He was on fire and his teammates did a great job of finding him. He also did a great job of moving around and finding areas of the zone where he could get shots. Obviously it's a group effort, but he was beyond exceptional."
 
A player had never made 10 three-pointers in a game in the history of the LMU men's hoops program before this season, but now it's been done twice, as Steele canned 10 three-pointers in a 40-point performance back on December 19 at Newberry. Choice topped his previous career-high for points, which was 34.
 
Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) added 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting with five rebounds and three assists, while Steele pitched in 14 points and six assists. Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) filled up the stat sheet in characteristic fashion, compiling nine points, five rebounds and six assists.
 
The first half saw the Railsplitters catch fire early and race out to a big lead before the Eagles gathered themselves and fought back into it.
 
Following a back-and-forth start, with Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman meeting in a 17-17 stalemate at the 13:12 mark on a Sawyer Williams free throw, the Railsplitters went absolutely bonkers from behind the three-point line to fuel a 21-4 run and take a commanding 38-21 lead with 8:33 left in the half. Choice concluded that flurry with a three-pointer, as LMU connected on nine of its first 13 three-point attempts.
 
However, Carson-Newman responded with a 15-4 spurt over the next passage of play, which was capped by a steal and a thunderous dunk from Charles Clark to cut Lincoln Memorial's lead to 42-36 at the 5:12 mark.
 
The Railsplitters pushed their lead back out to 10 points at 46-36 following a couple of free throws by Simmons, but a three from Clark and two free throws from Taylor Hawkins whittled the lead to 46-41 with three minutes remaining in the half.
 
A layup by Steele helped Lincoln Memorial increased its lead to 52-44, but a couple of botched plays at the end of the half awarded two gimme layups to Williams on the other end, which trimmed the Railsplitters' halftime cushion to 52-48.
 
"We were frustrated going into halftime. We tried to go 2-for-1 and messed that up. Then we came back and tried to hold for one shot and messed that up," Schertz said. "We gave up four points to close the half on bonehead plays, but we knew that the key was going to be to keep our poise. Carson-Newman is a great team and it's a tough environment. They have a bunch of really good players that are great competitors, so we knew we were going to have to weather some storms."
 
Weather they did, as the Railsplitters exploded out of the gate in the second half and put a comeback virtually out of reach, even for a Carson-Newman team that had its way offensively.
 
The start of the second half is the precise moment when Choice left his imprint on the game, as he scored 19 of his 38 points in the first nine minutes of the half to fuel a 30-10 run, giving the Railsplitters an 82-58 lead on his final field goal of the game with 11:05 left.
 
Lincoln Memorial's high-powered offensive waned a bit for the remainder of the game, but the damage was already done. The Eagles were able to pull to within 12 points on a bucket by Carson Brooks with 1:22 left, but they wouldn't get any closer until Clark buried a three-pointer in the final C-N possession to trim the final deficit to 100-89.
 
Clark scored 36 points and went 13-for-19 from the field to lead the Eagles, while Williams registered 17 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists. Zack Pangallo tallied 11 points in 25 minutes off of the bench, while Brooks added 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
 
With the win, Lincoln Memorial sweeps the regular-season series from Carson-Newman and takes a 101-100 lead in the longest running series in program history. The Railsplitters also improved to 13-0 in SAC play and moved one win away from matching the 2010-11 and 2014-15 teams for the longest SAC winning streaks in program history.
 
The Railsplitters accounted for a 32-24 advantage on the backboards and assisted on 19 of their 32 field goals. Lincoln Memorial led the game for all but 50 seconds.
 
Lincoln Memorial returns to action on Saturday, January 30, when they host the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears in SAC action at Tex Turner Arena at 4 p.m.