HARROGATE, Tenn. – Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.), Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) and Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) combined to score 72 points as the 25th-ranked Railsplitters (12-4, 7-3 SAC) rolled to a 101-80 win over the Catawba Indians (10-6, 4-6 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference men's hoops action on Saturday evening at Tex Turner Arena.
 
Playing for the third time in six days, Lincoln Memorial started slow and fell into a little bit of a hole early. However, the Railsplitters came to life midway through the first half and never looked back in their eighth straight win over Catawba.
 
"I'm really proud of our guys," said LMU head men's basketball coach Josh Schertz. "It's been a tough week with three games in six days. We were exhausted physically and mentally with the travel and one-day preparation for a good Catawba team.
 
"Our guys showed a lot of mental toughness and responded well from a slow start. We really played great defense until about the last 90 seconds of the first half, when we gave up some easy stuff. In the second half, we had a little spurt when I didn't love our body language, but after that we bounced right back.
 
"On a very difficult week, our guys really finished strong with three quality opponents in a six-day window."
 
The trio of Perry, Choice and Shaw accounted for more than a third of LMU's offensive output. Perry had a career-high 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds and two assists. Choice pitched in 22 points with four three-pointers, nine rebounds and three assists, while Shaw logged 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting with two boards and two assists. It was Shaw's third 20-point performance of the season and second in the last three games.
 
"Trevon is capable. We've just got to him being more consistent," Schertz said. "Obviously Luquon is one of the best players in the country. You kind of take it for granted. Not only does he get 22 and nine, but he holds Jameel Taylor to six points. You take his greatness for granted. Chris is coming along. You're starting to see it. He's starting to rebound the ball and understand where to be offensively, and we're starting to understand how to play with him.
 
"I'm really pleased with how those guys are playing and coming along."
 
In addition to that trio, Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) had 14 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists, while Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) notched 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes off the bench.
 
Lincoln Memorial dominated both sides of the court, shooting 50 percent from the field while holding the Indians to 38 percent shooting. The Railsplitters also absolutely dominated the glass, outrebounding Catawba 52-36.
 
The Railsplitters were lethargic early and Catawba took advantage of that, jumping out to a 9-0 lead before Pinson halted that run with an old-fashioned three-point play at the 16:49 mark. That briefly ignited Lincoln Memorial, who pulled within two at 9-7, but the Indians answered back and extended their lead to 16-9 on a jumper from Jerrin Morrison at 13:51.
 
The Railsplitters would establish control from that point on, though, ripping off a 15-2 flurry powered by Shaw and Perry to build a 24-18 lead with 9:34 left in the half. Catawba pulled to within four at 28-24 minutes later, but Lincoln Memorial countered with a 7-0 spurt to catapult ahead 35-24 on a jumper from Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) at the 5:40 mark.
 
The Railsplitters never led by less than nine points after that, while an 8-0 run that covered nearly three minutes made it 43-26 in favor of the Railsplitters with just over 90 seconds left. Catawba scored the final four points of the half to trim LMU's lead to 45-31 at the break.
 
After Catawba's red-hot start, the Railsplitters settled in and held the Indians to just 40.6 percent shooting. Lincoln Memorial, in contrast, rebounded from a poor start to shoot 47.4 percent in the half.
 
The Indians scored the first points of the second half to cut the Railsplitters' lead to 12 points, but that would be as close as Catawba would get. LMU's cushion hovered between 13 and 17 points for the next passage of play before three points from Pinson and a triple from Shaw extended the lead to 67-44 with just over 14 minutes to go.
 
The Railsplitters continued to increase their lead as the game progressed, as a triple from Choice at 9:33 made it 77-50 in favor of the home team. Catawba ended a more than three-minute scoring drought on the next possession with a Morrison three, but LMU answered back with a bucket from Woodson on the other end to maintain a 26-point lead.
 
Catawba used a 12-2 run to cut the Railsplitters' lead to 81-65 at the 5:52 mark. That's as close as it would get, though, as Lincoln Memorial later ripped off a 14-0 run that consumed three minutes of game clock and put the home team ahead 100-68 with 128 seconds left. With both benches clear, the Indians closed the game on a 12-1 run to cut the final deficit to 21 points.
 
Morrison paced the Indians with 23 points to go along with six rebounds and three blocks. Troy Warren had 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while KJ Arrington posted 11 points and three rebounds. No other Catawba players finished with more than seven points.
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters travel to Greeneville, Tenn. on Wednesday to face archrival Tusculum at 8 p.m. The Pioneers have lost three of their last four games and will be trying to bounce back from an 83-79 loss to No. 3 Queens.
 
Quick Hits
-The Railsplitters played 13 people in the game, but five people - Perry, Choice, Shaw, Pinson, Woodson - accounted for all but five of the team's 101 points.
-Lincoln Memorial went 23-for-31 at the charity stripe. Perry scored 10 of his 28 points at the free-throw line, where he finished 10-for-12 in the contest. Pinson went 8-for-10 at the line.
-The Railsplitters have now won 12 of their last 13 against Catawba with nine straight wins at Tex Turner Arena.