HICKORY, N.C. – The No. 6 Railsplitters (12-1, 6-0 SAC) used a strong second-half effort to bounce back from their first loss of the season and remain unbeaten in South Atlantic Conference play with a 72-55 win over Lenoir-Rhyne (4-8, 2-4 SAC) on Saturday afternoon inside of Shuford Gymnasium. The victory extended Lincoln Memorial's winning streak to 16 games against the Bears.
 
After being held to a season-low 56 points against No. 1 Northwest Missouri State 11 days ago, the Railsplitters couldn't get things going on the offensive end early against Lenoir-Rhyne. However, Lincoln Memorial turned things around in the second half, shooting 60 percent from the field and outscoring the Bears by 13 points to improve to 12-1 overall and 6-0 in conference action.
 
"Right now we're not playing basketball as a team on either end of the floor," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said. "We had a good spurt or two today that masked our deficiencies, but we need to get back to being a team. We need to get everyone going in one direction and I think the best way we'll be able to recognize if we are getting there would be to start guarding somebody. If you approach this game on an island it's impossible for the group to reach its potential. Hopefully we will respond the right way and start making some progress."
 
Emanuel Terry and Dorian Pinson powered the Railsplitter offense, particularly in the second stanza. That duo combined for 37 points, 26 of which came over the game's final 20 minutes. Terry led the way with 19 points to go along with 15 rebounds and four blocks, while Pinson tallied 18 points – with 16 in the second half – to go with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
 
Deshawn Patterson lifted Lincoln Memorial with 11 points in 22 minutes off the bench, while Cornelius Taylor and Trevon Shaw had nine points apiece. Taylor also pitched in seven rebounds and a team-leading five assists.
 
The Railsplitters shot 47 percent from the field despite suffering through their worst three-point shooting performance of the season. Lincoln Memorial went 1-for-12 from deep in the first half and didn't heat up much in the second half, finishing 4-for-22 from behind the arc. The four made three-pointers and 18 percent mark were both season lows.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne shot 45 percent but went 1-for-10 from three and turned the ball over 16 times, which led to 19 points for the Railsplitters. Lincoln Memorial also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds – seven from Terry – to account for 10 second-chance points.
 
Cory Thomas scored nearly half of Lenoir-Rhyne's points, putting up a game-high 23 on 9-of-12 shooting in 24 minutes off the bench. Emmanuel Wembi was the only other Bear to produce double figures with 11 points in 16 minutes off the bench. Filip Leskovar was the leading scorer among Lenoir-Rhyne's starters with seven points and a team-best nine rebounds.
 
The first half was a struggle for both clubs offensively. For the third consecutive half, the Railsplitters were held to a season-low 28 points, but Lincoln Memorial forced seven turnovers and limited the Bears to 35 percent shooting to carry a four-point lead into the break. The Railsplitters shot just 35 percent and finished 1-for-12 from three-point territory over that same span, but turned the ball over only three times.
 
Lincoln Memorial took a 7-5 lead early before the Bears used a 9-3 run to pull ahead 14-10 with 12 minutes remaining. The Railsplitters answered and regained the lead at 19-16 on a three-pointer – one of just two combined triples for either team in the half - from Patterson at the 8:32 mark. Lincoln Memorial never trailed again in the half but also never led by more than four. A bucket from Taylor with 38 seconds left was the final score of the half for either team and gave the Railsplitters a 28-24 cushion.
 
Lincoln Memorial assumed control early in the second half, opening the frame with an 11-2 run to pull ahead 39-26 with just under 17 minutes to play. Four different players scored for LMU during that flurry, led by five points from Taylor.
 
The Bears scored six unanswered points after that to trim the lead to seven points, but seven points by Pinson and a triple from Shaw pushed Lincoln Memorial's lead back up to 49-36 with 13 minutes left. The Railsplitters never led by less than 12 points after that, while a three-pointer from Pinson extended it to 62-45 with 6:17 remaining.
 
The Railsplitters shot 60 percent in the second half and went 15-for-20 on two-point attempts. That offset a relatively strong second-half performance for the Bears, who shot 56 percent in the frame but went 0-for-2 from three.
 
Quick Hits
 
- Lincoln Memorial finished 25-for-40 on two-pointers in the contest. Pinson went 8-for-10 from the field while Terry was 8-for-16.
 
- The win moves the Railsplitters to 18-8 all-time in the series. Lincoln Memorial also topped Lenoir-Rhyne for the ninth straight time in Hickory.
 
- Lincoln Memorial turned the ball over just nine times and assisted on 14 of its 29 field goals.
 
Up Next
 
The Railsplitters return to Tex Turner Arena to host the Anderson Trojans to open the 2018 portion of the schedule on Wednesday, January 3. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.