CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In what is in all likelihood the most highly anticipated game on the NCAA Division II men's hoops slate this weekend, the fourth-ranked Railsplitters (23-2, 19-0 SAC) will try to clinch an unprecedented fourth consecutive South Atlantic Conference regular season championship on Saturday when they venture to Charlotte, N.C. to take on the sixth-ranked Queens Royals (23-2, 17-2 SAC) at 4 p.m. inside of the Levine Center.
 
The storyline is simple for this one. Win and Lincoln Memorial locks down the first four-peat in South Atlantic Conference history and secures the program's fifth SAC regular season championship in the past six seasons. A loss wouldn't knock the Railsplitters off of their perch at the top of the SAC standings, but it would at least open the door for Queens, who would move within one game of Lincoln Memorial heading into the final week of the regular season with a win.
 
The Railsplitters pushed their winning streak to 13 and improved to 19-0 in SAC play with a 95-72 win over Mars Hill on Wednesday night at Tex Turner Arena. Lincoln Memorial trailed the visiting Lions by nine points midway through the first half before authoring a 21-point turnaround and taking a 57-45 lead into the break. The Railsplitters buried 10 three-pointers in the first half and 13 in the game to power the victory. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) had 25 points with five triples, while Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) produced 22 points despite a 7-for-17 mark from the field. Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) and Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) each tallied double-doubles, as Simmons put up 18 points and 11 rebounds and Terry notched 10 points and 10 boards.
 
Lincoln Memorial and Queens are sitting No. 1 and No. 2 in the initial NCAA Division II Southeast Region rankings, reinforcing how tight the battle for SAC and Southeast Region supremacy has gotten between the Railsplitters and Royals as the season has progressed.
 
The Railsplitters are ranked second in the nation in scoring with 96.5 points per game and three-point field goal percentage with a 44 percent clip while also ranking third nationally in scoring margin with an average point spread of 19.3 per game. Lincoln Memorial is fifth in the country and third in the South Atlantic Conference behind both Queens and Carson-Newman in field-goal percentage with a 51.5 percent mark. The Railsplitters have two different 10-game winning streaks this season alone, including their current 13-game winning streak.
 
The Royals, meanwhile, are second in the nation in overall field-goal percentage with a 52.4 percent mark while racking up the 13th-most points per game in the country with 88.5. Queens is winning by an average of 11 points per game. That offensive production is mostly a product of big-boy basketball in contrast to the Railsplitters' prolific three-point shooting, as the Royals average just over seven three-pointers per game. Queens has two winning streaks of at least nine games, including the current nine-game winning streak that has featured four straight wins by at least 15 points.
 
The Royals are coming off of a 95-77 victory at Catawba on Wednesday night. Queens led that game by as many as 32 points late in the second half before taking the foot off the gas down the stretch.
 
The Royals are led by the senior trio of Rob Lewis, Sean Morgan and Marquis Rankin. Lewis is putting up 19.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 39.9 percent from three-point range. Morgan is scoring 17.6 points per game on a nation's best 70.7 percent mark from the field coupled with 4.8 rebounds per game. Rankin - a Virginia Tech transfer - is accounting for 13 points and 2.9 assists per game on 51.1 percent shooting. Junior Daniel Camps is also in double figures with 12.2 points and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per game.
 
The Railsplitters will be looking to sweep the series against Queens and remain unbeaten in the series since the Royals joined the South Atlantic Conference prior to the 2013-14 campaign. Lincoln Memorial defeated the then eighth-ranked and undefeated Royals 86-76 at Tex Turner Arena on January 9. The Railsplitters built as large as a 17-point lead midway through the second half before Queens closed the gap to nine points with just over two minutes to play. However, Lincoln Memorial sealed the victory at the charity stripe to move to 8-1 all-time against the Royals.
 
Choice and Steele combined to hit seven three-pointers and scored 19 points apiece to lead the Railsplitters in that contest. Terry accounted for 12 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in 21 minutes off of the bench. Simmons had 12 points and seven boards. Morgan led the Royals with 21 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting, while Camps produced 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
 
In last season's meeting at Queens, the Railsplitters ended regulation on a 15-4 run to hand the Royals a 66-51 loss. Choice had 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three, while Morgan paced Queens with 17 points. 
 
The Railsplitters are a remarkable 40-1 in South Atlantic Conference play over the past two seasons. Lincoln Memorial hasn't lost a SAC game on the road since suffering a 79-77 loss at Carson-Newman on February 5, 2014, winning 22 straight conference road games since then.
 
This marks LMU's first game against a top-10 nationally-ranked opponent since squaring off against No. 9 Mount Olive in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Trojans won that game 75-55 to end the Railsplitters' 2014-15 season.
 
In the milestone watch, senior guard Gerel Simmons has a decent shot at reaching 1,000 career points in just two seasons at Lincoln Memorial. With three games left in the regular season and hopefully a long postseason run on the horizon, the former Brevard walk-on is sitting at 852 points. He leads the Railsplitters in points per game (20.2) and total points (505) this season.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.

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