HARROGATE, Tenn. -- The No. 1 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Railsplitters (30-2) used a 28-3 first-half run to advance past the eight-seeded Lander Bearcats (22-10) with a 98-71 win in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament on Saturday evening at Tex Turner Arena. With the win, Lincoln Memorial pushes its winning streak to 20 games and matches the single-season program record for wins by improving to 30-2, while Lander ends its season with a 22-10 mark.
 
The Railsplitters advance to the NCAA Tournament's round of 32 for the fifth consecutive year, where they will face the winner of No. 4 Queens and No. 5 Columbus State on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. back at Tex Turner Arena. Lincoln Memorial will be looking to punch the program's first ticket to the Sweet 16 and snap a string of four straight second-round losses in that contest.
 
The Railsplitters turned in another complete performance to cruise past the Bearcats in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Lincoln Memorial was ultra-efficient offensively, particularly in the first half, shooting 52.2 percent (35-for-67) from the field with a 14-for-28 mark (50 percent) from three-point range. The Railsplitters accomplished that while limiting Lander to a 37.1 percent shooting clip (26-for-70) and a 4-for-20 effort (20 percent) from long distance. There was an even bigger chasm between the two teams in the opening half, as Lincoln Memorial scored 55 points and shot nearly 58 percent while holding the Bearcats to 33.3 percent shooting.
 
Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the way with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting coupled with seven rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 28 minutes of action. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) scored 18 points with four three-pointers, five rebounds and an assist. Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) accounted for 15 points and five assists, while Curtis McMillion (Fayetteville, N.C.) supplied a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes off the bench. Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) had nine points, five assists and four rebounds, while Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) provided seven points and five rebounds over 13 minutes of work.
 
The Railsplitters scored on their first three possessions of the game and jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but a jumper by Sergio Smith pulled Lander to within two at 14-12 with 15 minutes left in the first half. But Lincoln Memorial would completely and utterly dominate the next 10 minutes, authoring a 28-3 run that pushed the lead to 42-15 by the 5:21 mark.
 
The larger run began with a 9-0 spurt, which was capped by a Simmons jumper at the 12:38 mark that made it a 23-12 lead in the Railsplitters' favor.  Tyree King briefly stopped the bleeding with a bucket at 12:21, but the Bearcats would go more than seven minutes without a made field goal until King finally got Lander back on the board with a jumper at the five-minute mark.
 
The Bearcats came on strong late in the first half and whittled the Railsplitters' lead down to 20 points, but Choice and Simmons buried three-pointers around a King triple to send Lincoln Memorial into the break with a commanding 55-32 lead.
 
"We came out with great energy and great focus," LMU head men's basketball coach Josh Schertz said. "We were able to get a bunch of stops and when we get stops we can get out in transition and that's where we are at our best. That start was obviously the key to the game because the rest of it was pretty even."
 
The Railsplitters started slow in the second half, as the Bearcats used a 13-5 spurt to close the gap to 60-45 with 13 minutes to play. Tim Pierce (Albany, Ga.) connected on a three-pointer just before the under-12 media timeout to extend the Railsplitters' lead back to 18 points, but a bucket by Telvin Gabriel kept the Bearcats within striking distance at 66-50 with just under nine minutes to play.
 
"We looked discombobulated. They are very long and athletic and they did a good job in their zone of getting out to shooters," Schertz said of the start of the second half. "And we missed three point blank layups during a stretch in the second half. We didn't convert plays that we normally do. We scored only nine points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the good thing was that they only scored 17. So we were able to keep separation and then when we did hit it spurt we were able to push the lead back up."
 
That spurt came right after Lander pulled to within 16 points, as the Railsplitters hit four free throws and Steele buried a three-pointer to extend the lead back to 76-55 with 7:18 to play. The lead dipped below 18 points only one time after that.
 
With the win, Lincoln Memorial matches both the 2014-15 and 1976-77 teams for the most wins in the program's single-season history and notches the third 20-game winning streak of the Josh Schertz era. Schertz also checked off another milestone, as the four-time South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year picked up his 200th career coaching victory in just his 246th career game at the helm for the Railsplitters.
 
Lander was led by Tobiasz Hose's 15 points and nine rebounds, while JR Washington put up 14 points with two rebounds, two assists and two steals. The Railsplitters made life difficult on the Bearcats' top two scorers, though, as Hose finished 4-for-16 from the field and Washington went 4-for-19. Travis Fredimon added 14 points as well, while King had nine points.
 
Quick Hits
The Railsplitters outrebounded the Bearcats 42-39, but Lander scored 16 second-chance points off of 18 offensive rebounds...Lincoln Memorial led wire-to-wire, never trailing after opening the game on a 5-0 run...Despite a sluggish start to the second half, the Railsplitters still outscored the Bearcats 43-39 over the final 20 minutes of action...Choice has now hit 114 three-pointers this season, which ranks third in the South Atlantic Conference's single-season history and only 10 behind the record held by Anderson's Chandler Hash...Not to be outdone, Steele has hit 106 triples this season, the fourth-most in SAC history
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament to face the winner of No. 4 Queens and No. 5 Columbus State at 7:30 on Sunday night. The winner of that game moves on the Sweet 16 to face the winner of Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne on Tuesday.