HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) scored 19 points apiece to help the No. 19 Railsplitters (12-2, 8-0 SAC) knock the No. 8 Queens Royals (12-1, 6-1 SAC) from the ranks of the unbeatens 86-76 in a 40-minute South Atlantic Conference slugfest on Saturday afternoon at Tex Turner Arena.
 
The win marks Lincoln Memorial's first against a top-10 nationally-ranked program in the school's NCAA Division II era, as the Railsplitters gave themselves some breathing room in the race for the SAC regular-season championship by improving to 8-0 in league play and handing the Royals their first conference loss.
 
A physically grueling game from the opening tip, every shot, rebound and pass was challenged with contact. Lincoln Memorial finished with a narrow 41-35 rebounding edge and grabbed 13 offensive boards. The two teams combined to get whistled for 43 fouls, with the Railsplitters drawing the short end of that stick with 24 personal fouls.
 
"We knew going in that it was going to be a big-boy game," LMU head men's basketball coach Josh Schertz said. "Queens is very big, athletic and talented. We wanted to try to match their physicality and I thought aside from the first couple of minutes we did a really good job of that."
 
Choice went 7-of-14 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point range to score 19 points. In the process, the Laurens, S.C. native became only the fourth player in program history to make 200 career three-pointers, joining Craig Zeigler (226), Cam Carden (245) and Nick Sanford (297) as the only other LMU players that can make that claim.
 
Steele also scored 19 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point territory coupled with four assists and a steal. Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) and Curtis Webb (Spartanburg, S.C.) both sparked the Railsplitters off of the bench, as Terry collected 12 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, while Webb produced 10 points and four boards on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting clip. Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.
 
"Emanuel (Terry) was great. And we got great minutes from the entire bench in terms of what they were able to do in a game where Gerel, Dorian (Pinson) and Jalen were in foul trouble," Schertz said. "Our depth was really called on tonight and I thought those guys responded in a positive way."
 
The Railsplitters finished shooting 45.5 percent (30-for-66) from the field and connected on 11 of their 21 three-point attempts for a 52.4 percent mark from deep. Queens shot 45.2 percent (28-for-62), but went just 6-of-22 from three-point range for a dismal 27.3 percent clip.
 
A dunk by Daniel Camps put Queens ahead 6-5 at the 17:33 mark of the opening half, but a 19-5 LMU run - interrupted only by a Jacoby Davis three-pointer and a Sean Morgan jumper - pushed the Railsplitters in front 24-11 with 9:15 left in the frame.
 
The Royals would control the next passage of play, though, using a 13-4 run over the next four and half minutes to trim the Railsplitters' lead to 28-24 with a Camps three-pointer at the 4:49 mark. A triple from Choice increased LMU's advantage back to seven points (33-26), but Rob Lewis scored five unanswered points to make it a three-point game (36-33) with two minutes left in the half.
 
But Steele would send the Railsplitters into the half with a 41-35 lead, as he knocked down two free throws and later buried a buzzer-beating three-pointer to fuel a 5-2 closing run by his lonesome.
 
The Railsplitters continued to push the pace at the start of the second half, using a three by Choice and two Curtis McMillion (Fayetteville, N.C.) free throws to extend their lead to 46-35 with 19:05 left.
 
Queens never quite let the Railsplitters pull away completely, closing the gap to seven points on two different occasions over the next stretch, but a huge series of events helped swing the momentum for good. Terry kick-started that stretch by finishing off a thunderous alley-oop from Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio), which snapped a 5-0 Queens run and made it a 57-48 lead. Webb and Steele then hit back-breaking three-pointers to give the Railsplitters a 15-point edge with 10 minutes to go.
 
The Railsplitters lead wouldn't get into single digits again until late in regulation, while an old-fashioned three-point play by Terry put Lincoln Memorial out to its largest lead of the ballgame at 69-52 with 9:19 left.
 
The Royals would claw back within striking distance in the waning minutes, as a monster dunk from Morgan paired with the subsequent free throw cut Lincoln Memorial's cushion to 82-73 with 2:10 to play. But the Railsplitters would go 4-for-6 at the free-throw line and hold Queens to 1-of-3 shooting over the final two minutes to seal the 86-76 win.
 
Morgan scored a game-high 21 points to go along with nine rebounds and two assists to lead the Royals. Camps chipped in 14 points and four rebounds, while Lewis notched nine points.
 
"I was proud of how we fought", Schertz said. "I thought we really competed for the entire 40 minutes. We didn't play great in every segment, but we really competed, fought and played for each other."
 
Quick Hits
The Railsplitters improved to 8-1 all-time against Queens and remained perfect against the Royals (6-0) since they joined the South Atlantic Conference for the 2013-14 season...The win was LMU's first against a ranked opponent since beating 21st-ranked Newberry 100-81 at Tex Turner Arena on December 15, 2014...Lincoln Memorial's bench outscored Queens' bench 26-17...Queens scored 38 of their 76 points in the paint, while 60 of LMU's 86 points were scored outside of the paint, including 33 points from three...After briefly trailing, the Railsplitters led for the final 37 minutes of regulation. All told, LMU led for 98.4 percent of the game
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters host the Anderson Trojans in South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday, January 13, with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m. at Tex Turner Arena. Lincoln Memorial has won four straight against the Trojans, who slipped to 3-5 in SAC play with an 83-80 loss at Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday.