HICKORY, N.C. – Behind 53 combined points from Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) and Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) and better than 55 percent shooting, the 24th-ranked Railsplitters (16-4, 11-3 SAC) walloped the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (9-10, 8-6 SAC) 97-75 on Saturday in Hickory, N.C. to win their sixth consecutive game.
 
With both Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) and Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) absent, Lincoln Memorial took a few minutes to get going offensively. However, the Railsplitters eventually found their rhythm and ran the Bears out of Shuford Gymnasium, shooting 55.2 percent from the field while going 14-for-29 from deep to beat Lenoir-Rhyne for the 15th consecutive time.  

"I am very proud of our guys," said LMU head coach Josh Schertz. "We've been through a lot of adversity this year and they continue to show toughness and resiliency. We had a lot of guys step up and perform at a high level. We just need to keep playing hard and playing together in order to give ourselves a shot moving forward."

Perry scored 20-plus points for the fifth time in his last six games and matched his career-high mark with 28 points for the third time in the last five games to lead all scorers. He was nearly perfect from the field with a 12-for-13 mark and added insult to injury for the Bears late in the second half by connecting on his first three-point attempt of the season. In addition to that, he grabbed 11 rebounds to notch his third double-double of the season.
 
Choice was nearly as effective as Perry, scoring 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting and a 7-for-10 effort from three-point range. He also chipped in five rebounds and three assists to go along with his eighth 20-point performance of the season.
 
Along with that duo, Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) posted 12 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished in triple-double territory with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven assists in just his eighth career start. Hunter Spaw (Bean Station, Tenn.) contributed eight points and five assists, while Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) collected seven points.
 
It was a clean effort by the Railsplitters, who fell just one assist shy of their season-high mark with 22 on 37 made field goals. Lincoln Memorial also finished with just eight turnovers in the contest. The Railsplitters also dominated the paint, outrebounding the Bears 36-30 and outscoring the Bears 42-18 in the square.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne started just 2-for-12 from the field and missed its first six three-point attempts, but the Railsplitters were unable to create much distance initially due to a 5-for-14 start. After falling behind by scores of 6-0 and 13-2, the Bears closed the gap to five points at 13-8 on a bucket from Jalen Variste with 11:21 left in the half.
 
The Railsplitters came to life from that point on, though, as Choice buried a three-pointer on three consecutive possessions to cap a 14-4 run that put the visiting team ahead 27-12 at the 7:21 mark. Lincoln Memorial would later increase its lead to 17 points at 31-14 on a bucket from Perry with just over six minutes left in the first frame.
 
From that point on, the Railsplitters would never lead by less than 14 and would hold a 17-point advantage four different times. Perry scored six of his 13 first-half points in the final 2:07 to send Lincoln Memorial into the break with a 45-29 cushion.
 
After making just five of their first 14 shots, the Railsplitters went 12-for-17 to end the half with a 54.8 percent clip, including a 7-for-14 effort from the arc. The Railsplitters held the Bears to 10-for-25 shooting and a 3-for-10 mark from three-point range over that same span.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne trimmed the Railsplitters' lead back to 14 points early in the second half, but an 8-0 run capped by two free throws by Taylor at the 16-minute mark gave Lincoln Memorial its largest lead of the game at 55-33.
 
From that point on, the Railsplitters never led by less than 16 points, while five straight points from Deshawn Patterson (Lenoir, N.C.) ballooned LMU's cushion to 76-49 with less than 10 minutes to play. The lead hovered in that range for the next passage of play until three-pointers from Choice, Perry and Spaw catapulted it to 92-62 with 3:48 to play.
 
That was the largest lead of the game for the Railsplitters, as L-R ended it on a 13-5 run to trim the final deficit to 22 points.
 
Reed Lucas led Lenoir-Rhyne, who finished shooting 41.8 percent from the field with a 36 percent clip from three, with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and three three-pointers. Jarvis Calhoun contributed 16 points in 22 minutes off the bench, while Jalen Variste and Jacques Chambers had 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Railsplitters held L-R's leading scorer, Darrion Evans, to just eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters travel to Brevard, N.C. to face the Brevard Tornados in South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Tornados lost their eighth straight game and fell to 0-14 in SAC play with an 83-53 loss at Coker on Saturday.
 
Quick Hits
-The six-game winning streak is the longest of the season for the Railsplitters, who had previously ripped off a five-game streak from November 26-December 14.
-Lincoln Memorial defeated L-R for the 15th straight time in a streak that dates back to January 2011. It also extended a streak of eight straight wins in Hickory for the Railsplitters.
-Choice hit at least seven three-pointers in a game for the 10th time in his career to push his season total to 81, which leads the South Atlantic Conference. The SAC record for threes in a season in 127, which was set by LMU's Jalen Steele last season.