HARROGATE, Tenn. – The race for the South Atlantic Conference title as well as the site of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional could be decided on Saturday at 4 p.m. when the 15th-ranked Railsplitters (21-4, 16-3 SAC) host the 10th-ranked Queens Royals (23-2, 17-2 SAC) at Tex Turner Arena.
 
Lincoln Memorial enters Saturday's highly-anticipated, nationally-ranked showdown against the Royals riding a season-high 11-game winning streak, while Queens arrives in Harrogate with a one-game lead in the SAC standings with three games to play and sitting atop the first Southeast Region poll. The Railsplitters – winners of four consecutive SAC regular-season championships – are in second place in the league and No. 2 in the regional rankings.
 
Prior to tip-off, the Railsplitters will celebrate Senior Day by honoring four players in the midst of their final season in the Blue and Gray: Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.), Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.), Hunter Spaw (Bean Station, Tenn.) and Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio).
 
Lincoln Memorial reached 11 straight wins on Wednesday night with an 86-51 win at Mars Hill. The Railsplitters couldn't get anything going offensively in the first half and let the Lions hang around, but opened the second half with a 21-6 run to blow the game wide open. All told, Lincoln Memorial outscored Mars Hill 48-21 and shot 66.7 percent in the second half to power the 35-point win.
 
Perry, Choice and Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) combined for 50 points in that win. Perry bounced back from his season-low three-point performance at Newberry by tallying a game-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting with eight rebounds. Taylor had 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals, while Choice scored 14 points with 11 of those coming in the second half.
 
Wingate is the only team that's been able to solve Queens this season, as the Royals are 0-2 against the Bulldogs and 23-0 against everybody else. Wingate snapped Queens' 16-game season-opening winning streak with a 71-64 victory in Charlotte on January 18 and completed the season sweep with an 86-79 win at Cuddy Arena last Wednesday.
 
Since suffering their second loss to Wingate, the Royals bounced back with a 119-78 barnstorming at Mars Hill on Saturday and a narrow 93-85 win at Catawba on Wednesday. In the win at Catawba, Queens led by as many as 19 points before the Indians whittled some off of the deficit late.
 
Saturday will pit two of the nation's elite offensive teams head to head. Lincoln Memorial is ranked fourth in the country in scoring with 94.2 points per game, fourth in field-goal percentage with a 52.5 percent clip and 13th in three-point percentage with a 41.3 percent mark. Queens is ranked 15th in the country in points per game with 89.2 and ninth in field-goal percentage with a 50.7 percent mark, which includes 39.2 percent shooting from three.
 
The Railsplitters and Royals are also among the nation's best defensive teams. Lincoln Memorial has the eighth-best field-goal percentage defense by holding opponents to 39.3 percent shooting, while Queens is 19th in the country in that department by allowing just 40.8 percent shooting and a 34.3 percent mark from three.
 
The two teams share vastly different defensive philosophies in spite of the similar results. While Lincoln Memorial relies on discipline and solidarity for its half-court, man-to-man defense, Queens feeds off creating pressure. The Royals are ranked fifth in the nation in total steals with 249, seventh in steals per game with 10 and 14th in turnovers forced per game with 17.64. By comparison, LMU creates just 12.76 turnovers per contest.
 
Queens' offensive production is predicated on the fast-break opportunities created by those turnovers and getting to the foul line. The Royals have attempted the 10th-most free throws in the nation this season with 662.
 
Five players are averaging double figures for the Royals. Daniel Camps is putting up 14.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game on 65.8 percent shooting, while Jalin Alexander is just off of that pace with 14.3 points per game on a 42.1 percent mark from three. Todd Withers is contributing 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48.8 percent from the field. Mike Davis (12.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.7 threes per game) and Ike Agusi (10.2 points, 4.2 assists per game, 45.9 percent shooting) are also key contributors for the Royals.
 
The Railsplitters will be looking to avenge a heartbreaking 103-101 overtime loss at Queens from back on January 9. In that contest, Lincoln Memorial never led in the second half and rallied from a 13-point deficit to force overtime on a pair of clutch free throws by Spaw with two seconds left. The Railsplitters led by three points on four different occasions in the overtime, but Queens closed on a 5-0 run to win it.
 
Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) had a season-high 25 points in that game, while Spaw logged a career-high 22 points. Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) notched 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists while Perry produced 18 points and nine rebounds. For the Royals, Alexander posted a game-high 28 points on a nearly-perfect 11-for-12 effort from the field. Davis scored 17 points in 38 minutes off the bench, while Agusi had 15 and Camps added 14.
 
That loss snapped Lincoln Memorial's eight-game winning streak against Queens, which dated back to a loss in Charlotte in January 1993. The Railsplitters are still 10-2 in the all-time series with a perfect 5-0 mark at home. LMU beat Queens twice at Tex Turner Arena last season, winning 86-76 in the regular season before obliterating the Royals 95-67 in the semifinals of the Southeast Regional.
 
Tip-off between the Railsplitters and Royals is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday at Tex Turner Arena. The game will be preceded by the Senior Day ceremony. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
 
Five things to watch against No. 10 Queens:
1. While the Railsplitters have a larger overall point spread in the first half this season, that trend has flipped in recent outings. Along with the 27-point disparity at Mars Hill, Lincoln Memorial outscored Wingate by nine and Newberry by 14 in the second half of those games.
 
2. The Royals are a bona fide National Championship contender, but are deficient in a couple of areas. They commit 16.4 turnovers per game and have racked up 518 fouls this season, two figures that rank near the bottom statistically in the nation. Also, despite getting to the free-throw line a ton, Queens is shooting just 68.7 percent at the stripe, which is eighth in the SAC.
 
3. Queens can be exposed on the backboards as well. The Royals rank fifth in the SAC and 92nd in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-2.6 for the season. Wingate outrebounded Queens 39-36 and 43-31 in their two wins over the Royals. LMU beat the Royals 44-38 on the boards in the season's first meeting.
 
4. The Royals could easily have a number of additional losses on their resume. Despite leading wire-to-wire, Queens narrowly edged Carson-Newman 72-70 on January 28. In the game prior to that, the Royals trailed by as many as 15 points at Newberry. In a 94-92 win at Anderson, Queens trailed by seven points with just over three minutes left in regulation. Prior to their first loss to Wingate, the Royals trailed Tusculum at the half in an 83-79 win.
 
5. Three of LMU's four seniors that will be honored on Saturday – Choice, Spaw and Woodson – will leave the program as the winningest players in SAC and program history. Since those three made their debut in 2013-14, the Railsplitters are 113-13 with three SAC regular-season championships, two SAC tournament titles and a trip to the NCAA Division II National Championship.