HARROGATE, Tenn. -- The No. 2 nationally-ranked Railsplitters rode their three-headed monster of Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.), Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.) and Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) to the best regular season in the history of the South Atlantic Conference, as that trio powered Lincoln Memorial to its fourth straight SAC regular-season title, a 22-0 league record and the top seed for the 2016 SAC Championship.
 
With the arrival of March and postseason basketball, the recipe remained the same, as Choice, Simmons and Steele combined for 75 points to lead the Railsplitters (27-2) to a convincing 101-75 victory over the eight-seeded Tusculum Pioneers (14-15) in the quarterfinals of the SAC Championship on Wednesday night at Tex Turner Arena. With the win, Lincoln Memorial advances to the SAC Championship semifinals to face fifth-seeded Newberry at 5:30 on Saturday at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.
 
"They are as good of a backcourt as there is in the country and when they perform like that we are really hard to beat," LMU head men's basketball coach Josh Schertz said after the game. "Those guys are three of the best players in the country as a group. I haven't seen everybody, but I can't imagine there's a group better than those three."
 
Simmons led the way with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Choice finished with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting with two steals and two blocks. Steele also scored 24 points with five three-pointers, three rebounds and three assists. All told, that trio was 28-for-52 from the floor with 11 three-pointers.
 
Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) filled out the stat sheet with 14 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) didn't score, but he impacted the game in a big way with eight rebounds and four blocks.
 
Lincoln Memorial has now won 17 consecutive games and 23 straight against South Atlantic Conference opponents.
 
The Railsplitters hit eight of their first 13 shots, including their first five three-point tries, but Tusculum was equal to the task over that same stretch, connecting on 10 of its first 16 shots with four three-pointers to take a 24-22 lead at the 12:17 mark. A quick 8-2 spurt capped by a Simmons layup at 9:07 put Lincoln Memorial ahead 30-26, but jumpers by Javon Price and Chase Mounce kept the Pioneers within striking distance at 33-30 just two minutes later.
 
However, a bucket by Steele, a jumper from Simmons and a Curtis Webb (Spartanburg, S.C.) three-pointer composed a 7-0 run that extended LMU's lead to 40-30 by the 6:13 mark. The Pioneers whittled the lead down to six on a three-pointer from Mounce with 1:30 left in the half. The Railsplitters would end the half on an 8-2 run, though, to carry a 57-45 lead into the break.
 
The Railsplitters shot 61.1 percent from the field in the opening half with a ridiculous 10-for-18 mark from three, but Tusculum was able to keep it close by shooting 54.3 percent with six threes over that same span.
 
"I told the guys at the half that that was a really well-played game," Schertz said. "Tusculum was hitting everything and we had some breakdowns here and there. But I thought we really knuckled down on defense in the second half and did a good job on them, which was tough because they are really hard to guard."
 
The Railsplitters opened the second half with a little 6-1 flurry to take their largest lead of the game at 63-47. The Pioneers answered back and trimmed the deficit to 66-55 on a Cory Fagan triple at the 15:45 mark, but Lincoln Memorial used a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to push ahead 76-57 on a Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) free throw with 11:51 to play.
 
The Railsplitters' lead jumped to 20 points at the 10-minute mark before ballooning to 25 points (91-66) on a bucket by Woodson at the 6:58 mark. The Pioneers briefly closed the gap to 18 points with a hair under four minutes to go, but LMU ended the game on an 8-0 run to complete the 101-75 victory.
 
An underappreciated factor in the win came early in the contest, when Webb was brought in off of the bench to slow down Tusculum's Javon Price, who scored 12 points in the first eight minutes of the game to pace the Pioneers' hot start. Webb held Price - fresh off a 37-point performance against Queens - scoreless over the final 30 minutes.
 
"Webb doesn't have huge stats, so people don't recognize his value. But he impacts winning and as a coach that's all you care about," Schertz said. "Every time he hits the floor, he absolutely impacts winning. His defense on Price was phenomenal. It was just a really, really high-level performance by him."
 
The Railsplitters finished shooting 54.2 percent (39-for-72) from the field, 44.8 percent (13-for-29) from the three and 71.4 percent (10-for-14) at the charity stripe. By contract, Tusculum shot 42.9 percent (27-for-63) from the floor with a 40.9 percent (9-for-22) from three. Lincoln Memorial limited the Pioneers to 28.6 percent shooting in the second half.
 
Matt Shown led Tusculum with 18 points and five rebounds, while Kendall Patterson scored 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three. Price had 12 points and four assists, while Mounce finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four blocks.
 
Tusculum's season draws to a close with a loss, as the Pioneers finish with a 14-15 overall record.
 
Quick Hits
The Railsplitters knocked off Tusculum for the 18th straight time and ended the Pioneers' season for the fourth time since the 2010-11 campaign...Lincoln Memorial outrebounded the Pioneers 44-30 with 11 offensive boards...The Pioneers' 75 points were their fewest since being held to 70 in a win at Anderson on February 3...The Railsplitters advance to the SAC Championship semifinals for the seventh consecutive season, where they are trying to make their fourth straight appearance in the finals
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters face the fifth-seeded Newberry Wolves at 5:30 on Saturday in the SAC Championship semifinals in Greenville, S.C. The Wolves pulled off a mild upset on Wednesday with a 98-90 win over fourth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne. Lincoln Memorial has won seven straight against Newberry, as the two teams last met in the SAC Championship in 2014, a 97-76 win for LMU in the semifinal round.