HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 4 Railsplitters (7-0, 2-0 SAC) buried 16 three-pointers and took advantage of an injury-ravaged Catawba Indians (2-4, 0-2 SAC) squad to stroll to a 103-58 win in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Tex Turner Arena.
 
Catawba had a tall task in front of them when they rolled into Harrogate, where the Indians have not won since 2009. Injuries made it an even more difficult proposition for the Indians as preseason All-SAC first team selection Jameel Taylor and the league's leading scoring Jerrin Morrison were both sidelined with injuries.
 
Catawba's misfortunes played a major role in the outcome, but Lincoln Memorial also produced arguably its most complete performance of the season. The Railsplitters scored 61 first-half points, hit a season-high 16 three-pointers and held the visitors to 31 percent shooting to start 7-0 for the fourth time since the start of the 2010-11 campaign.
 
"It wasn't a fair fight obviously. Catawba was really short-handed losing two all-league guys and that's not an indicator of how good they are or what we will see in a few weeks when we go back to Salisbury," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said.
 
"For the most part we put together about as complete a game as we've had. It was a good team win. We had a lot of guys step up and play well. We did a lot of good stuff over the 40 minutes. Again, it wasn't a fair fight, but to our credit I thought our guys played their best game of the year."
 
The trio of Trevon Shaw, Cornelius Taylor and Dorian Pinson combined for 63 points to outpace the Indians as a team. Shaw hit six threes to score a game-high 25 points. Taylor had a season-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with five assists. Pinson pitched in 17 points, five assists and four rebounds over just 20 minutes of action.
 
"Cornelius (Taylor) did a great job," Schertz said. "I told him he played a really mature game. He had 19 in the first half and was going. Second half he had a chance to force some and I thought he made the right basketball play. He played his most mature, efficient game maybe since he's been here."
 
Kamaran Calhoun lifted Lincoln Memorial with 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench, while Steven Perriere grabbed a career-high eight rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench.
 
The Railsplitters put the game away by halftime. In the first half, Lincoln Memorial shot 65 percent from the field and went 8-of-15 from three. Over that same span, Catawba shot 33 percent and went 0-for-6 from three as LMU took a 61-27 lead into the break. The Railsplitters were able to do that in spite of Pinson and leading scorer Emanuel Terry combining for just four points and 12 foul-hampered minutes.
 
Malik Constantine led Catawba with 16 points and six rebounds. Peyton Pappas added 12 points, while Jeremy McLaughlin pitched in nine points and six rebounds. No other Catawba player finished with more than five points.
 
A 7-0 spurt pushed the Railsplitters out to an early 9-2 lead with less than three minutes gone in the first half, a harbinger of things to come. The Indians wouldn't reach double figures until a jumper from Pappas cut the lead to 24-10 with just under 10 minutes to go in the half.
 
Five straight free throws from Calhoun and Shaw increased the Railsplitters' lead to 36-13 at the under-8 media timeout. A 5-0 run from Taylor then pushed it to 49-16 with 4:32 to play in the half. The Railsplitters would lead by as many as 36 points in the first before heading into the locker room with a 61-27 cushion.
 
The Railsplitters never led by less than 32 points in the second half and led by as many as 50 points before calling off the cavalry.
 
Entering Saturday's contest, the Railsplitters were 6-0 with the nation's sixth-best scoring margin, winning by an average of 25 points per game. But Coach Schertz wanted to see a complete 40-minute effort from his team and avoid the mid-game lapses that have been prevalent throughout the early portion of the season. The Railsplitters did just that and Schertz hopes that can be a lesson for the team moving forward.
 
"You hope that they gain some confidence from that, that they look and see what we look like when we maintain our focus, stay engaged and stay connected for an entire 40 minutes. Hopefully it gives them more reason to stay focused when they look at it and understand what we can be."
 
Quick Hits
 
- Terry was plagued by foul trouble and played just 10 minutes. He scored the first bucket of the game for Lincoln Memorial but did not score again, finishing with a season-low two points and five rebounds.
 
- The 45-point margin of victory was the largest for any team in the series since Lincoln Memorial ended the 2013-14 regular-season schedule with a 110-61 win over the Indians. The Railsplitters have now won 10 straight against Catawba and 14 of the last 15 overall.
 
- The Railsplitters played an ultra clean game, turning the ball over just six times while assisting on 21 of their 38 field goals. On the flip side, Lincoln Memorial turned 17 Catawba turnovers into 22 points.
 
- Josh Odem also played a solid game with eight points and five rebounds on 3-of-5 shooting.
 
Up Next
 
The Railsplitters resume their four-game home stand on Wednesday when they welcome Bluefield to Tex Turner Arena for a nonconference tilt set for an 8 p.m. tip off.