HARROGATE, Tenn. – Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Railsplitters (10-3, 5-2 SAC) to a wire-to-wire 93-64 win over the Mars Hill Lions (3-10, 1-6 SAC) on Wednesday evening at Tex Turner Arena.
 
The 29-point rout pushed Lincoln Memorial to 31-9 all-time against Mars Hill and extended the Railsplitters' winning streak in the series to 15. However, coming off of that signature win over No. 5 Bellarmine last Saturday, Lincoln Memorial was sluggish for huge chunks against the Lions, who dropped their sixth consecutive game.
 
"I thought we did some good things early," LMU head men's basketball coach Josh Schertz said. "We moved the ball, got some good looks and knocked them in. Defensively, we started off the game with some energy at times.
 
"But then we had some scouting report and personnel breakdowns and offensively from the 10-minute mark of the first half until the end of the game we didn't run offense. We made some shots, which was fool's gold and allowed us to sustain the lead, but the second half was just sloppy."
 
The Railsplitters shot 51 percent from the field and went 11-for-28 from three-point range. However, Lincoln Memorial did most of its damage in the first half, when the Railsplitters scored 57 points, shot 58.1 percent and built a commanding 20-point lead. In the second half, Lincoln Memorial shot just 43 percent, went 1-for-10 from three and scored a mere 36 points while turning it over seven times.
 
"We're happy to win, but obviously we don't take a lot of deep satisfaction from it," Schertz said. "We didn't play with a lot of purpose on either side of the floor. We were lackadaisical. Mars Hill played harder than we did, but we were just able to make more shots than them." 
 
Mars Hill finished shooting 38.6 percent from the field and went 5-for-18 from the arc. The Lions particularly struggled in the second half, scoring just 27 points on a dreadful 31.4 percent mark. Free throws also played a major role in the outcome, as the Railsplitters made 22 free throws on 33 attempts, while the Lions went 5-for-8 at the charity stripe.
 
Ten players had at least five points for the Railsplitters. Perry led that group with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting and an 11-for-12 mark at the free-throw line to go along with seven rebounds. Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) produced a double-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of assists, while Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) and Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) had 10 points apiece. Deshawn Patterson (Lenoir, N.C.) had eight points in seven minutes off the bench, while Hunter Spaw (Bean Station, Tenn.) and Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) had six points apiece.
 
Pinson buried a three-pointer 53 seconds into the game to give Lincoln Memorial a lead that it would never relinquish. Shortly after that, Perry scored nine consecutive points to extend the Railsplitters' lead to 14-6 with 14:33 left in the opening half. A little over two minutes later, Patterson knocked down a three to push Lincoln Memorial in front 25-10.
 
The Railsplitters' lead continued to grow as the half dragged on, as back-to-back threes from Spaw and Choice made it 31-13 with just over 10 minutes to go. Lincoln Memorial's lead hovered between 15 and 19 points over the next passage, but Spaw would bury another three-pointer at the 2:26 mark to push the lead to 22 points, while a Nicksen Blanc (Port Charlotte, Fla.) bucket on the next possession made it 24. The Lions scored seven unanswered points to close the gap to 17 points, but Taylor drained a three as time expired to send the Railsplitters into the half with a 57-37 lead.
 
The second half was ugly for both teams. A jumper by Bennett Wilson cut Lincoln Memorial's lead to 60-44 with 17:40 left. However, the Lions would get just two field goals over the next nine minutes. The Railsplitters struggled themselves on the offensive end over that span, but were able to extend the lead to 75-49 while Mars Hill was mired in that offensive funk.
 
The Railsplitters eventually extended their lead to 30 points at 81-51 on two free throws by Pinson with five minutes left. The lead would bulge to as many as 33 points before LMU settled for the 20-point triumph.
 
Valentin Bauer led the Lions with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Bennett Wilson had 12 points on a 5-for-15 mark. Makyle Wilkerson was the third-leading scorer with eight points in nine minutes off the bench
 
Now the Railsplitters turn their attention to the No. 3 nationally-ranked Queens Royals, who improved to 13-0 on Wednesday with a hard-fought win over Catawba, It will be the Railsplitters' second game against a top-five ranked opponent in the past week.
 
"Obviously Queens is a really good team and our guys understand that," Schertz said. "They're outstanding and for us to have a chance we are going to have to be at our best. That may or may not be good enough. I think they understand the challenge at hand and how good we are going to have to be to have a chance."
 
The Railsplitters travel to Charlotte, N.C. to face the Royals at 4 p.m. on Saturday inside the Levine Center.
 
Quick Hits
-The Railsplitters were without starting center Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) and struggled on the backboards as a result. Lincoln Memorial outrebounded the Lions 43-37, but surrendered 13 offensive boards.
-LMU's bench outscored the Lions' second unit 29-23. Despite those 13 offensive boards, LMU still won the battle for second-chance points 20-11.