HARROGATE, Tenn. – Strong starts have become a custom for the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team over the past decade, but the program will be looking to accomplish something it has not done since the 2012-13 campaign on Saturday. The No. 4/2 Railsplitters (4-0) aim to win their first five games of the season by double figures when the Virginia-Wise Cavaliers (3-3) drop in Tex Turner Arena for a 4 p.m. tip off.
 
Lincoln Memorial is off to its sixth 4-0 start in 10 seasons under head coach Josh Schertz, and the Railsplitters have been utterly dominant while reaching that mark. The team has won all four of its games this season by a minimum of 20 points and currently boasts the nation's sixth-best scoring margin.  
 
The Railsplitters have started 5-0 in four of the last nine seasons, most recently accomplishing that feat during the 2014-15 campaign, when Lincoln Memorial opened the year with 20 consecutive wins and jumped to No. 1 in the national poll. LMU has not opened the season with five straight victories by double digits since the 2012-13 team did just that. The 2010-11 team is the only other one in the program's NCAA history to replicate that start.
 
The Railsplitters beat the Shorter Hawks for the second time in four days on Tuesday night in Rome, Ga., racing out to a 17-point first-half lead en route to an 88-65 victory - just a one-point difference from the team's 88-64 win over the Hawks in the Tex Turner Arena opener last Saturday. Lincoln Memorial shot 57 percent from the field, including a nearly 70 percent mark on two-pointers, while holding Shorter to a 38 percent clip.
 
Emanuel Terry and Trevon Shaw continued to dominate for the Railsplitters. Terry posted his second double-double of the season with a career-high 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting and a game-high 15 rebounds, while Shaw canned four three-pointers to pile up 16 points and match a career-high mark with eight rebounds.
 
Terry (20.5) and Shaw (21.5) are both averaging over 20 points per game so far this season. Terry is also grabbing a team-leading 13.5 rebounds per game and shooting 73 percent from the field, while Shaw has accounted for 23 of the team's 47 three-pointers on a 49 percent mark from deep.
 
Senior Dorian Pinson also played well in Tuesday's win, posting 13 points, nine rebounds and a pair of assists. The Greenville, S.C. native is putting up 13.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 62 percent from the field.
 
As a team, Lincoln Memorial is shooting 53.5 percent, including a 40 percent clip from three-point territory, and averaging 92.5 points per game. The Railsplitters are holding opponents to 67.2 points per game on 38 percent shooting and a 30 percent mark from three.
 
Virginia-Wise comes into Saturday's matchup riding a three-game winning streak that includes a 71-64 win over Urbana, a 102-101 thriller against Notre Dame College and most recently a 103-70 bashing of Berea. Prior to that three-game winning streak, the Cavaliers had lost their first three games by double figures, including an 88-65 loss to Carson-Newman.
 
The Cavaliers are averaging just under 78 points per game on 41 percent shooting and a 32 percent mark from three point range. On the other side of the court, opponents are scoring 81 points per game on nearly 46 percent shooting against Virginia-Wise.
 
Taiwo Badmus leads the Cavaliers in scoring with 18.2 points per game and rebounding with 7.5 boards per game. The 6-7 senior transfer from Fairmont State University is shooting 44 percent from the field and has connected on a team-leading 16 three-pointers. Sophomore guard Michal Seals is adding 13.2 points per game on 36 percent shooting, while five other players are pitching in at least five points per game.
 
Virginia-Wise has attempted the 18th-most three-pointers in the country with 153 through six games, but the Cavaliers have averaged just 8.2 makes per game. Badmus and Yesid Mosquera-Perea lead the team with a 44.4 percent mark from deep.
 
The Railsplitters have controlled the all-time series against Virginia-Wise to the tune of a 21-9 record, but that falls well short of revealing the Railsplitters' utter dominance in the series. Lincoln Memorial has won the last four matchups by 43, 45, 52 and 26 points, respectively. The Cavaliers haven't beaten the Railsplitters since pulling out an 81-80 overtime win in Wise, Va. in December 2012, while LMU hasn't lost at home in the series since 1996. All told, the Railsplitters are 14-2 overall at home against the long-time rivals.
 
In last season's win at Wise, the Railsplitters shot nearly 58 percent and connected on 11 three-pointers while limiting the Cavaliers to 38 percent shooting and a 4-for-23 mark from three. Terry led Lincoln Memorial with 21 points and 14 rebounds while Deshawn Patterson had 19 points in 12 minutes off the bench. Pinson added 14 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Badmus paced Virginia-Wise with 20 points on 6-for-15 shooting and six rebounds.
 
The Railsplitters and Cavaliers are set to get underway at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Tex Turner Arena. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.lmurailsplitters.com.