HARROGATE, Tenn. – Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) knocked down a clutch 12-footer with 0.6 seconds left to cap a furious comeback for the 15th-ranked Railsplitters (22-4, 17-3 SAC) in a heart-stopping 81-79 win over the 10th-ranked Queens Royals (23-3, 17-3 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at Tex Turner Arena. With the win, Lincoln Memorial extended its winning streak to 12 games and moved into a tie for first place in the South Atlantic Conference standings with two games to play.
 
The Royals led by as many as 12 and had a 10-point cushion with less than seven minutes to go, but the Railsplitters held the visitors without a field goal for nearly eight minutes before Shaw buried the biggest shot of his career in the final seconds.
 
"It was just two really good teams fighting their brains out and matching each other shot for shot and play for play," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said. "We were reeling down 10 with under seven to go and looked like we were maybe about to give way. I'm really proud of how our guys kept competing, kept fighting, kept punching. We showed a lot of resolve, resilience and heart."
 
Queens went 19-for-28 (67.9 percent) from the field in the first half and led by eight points at the break, but the Railsplitters put on a clinic in the second half, holding the nation's ninth-most efficient team to an 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) effort over the final 20 minutes. Lincoln Memorial rode its defense to erase a late 10-point deficit as the Royals made a shot at 8:24 and another with 48 seconds left, but didn't make anything in the middle.  
 
"We really tightened up defensively. With a team as good as Queens, they are going to make a lot of difficult plays so you have to take away the easy stuff," Schertz said. "In the first half and for a while we gave them the easy stuff and they made the hard stuff.
 
"Our defense and execution were tremendous late. We really tightened down on the defensive end, which was the opposite of what happened when we down in Charlotte the last time we played in a really similar game."
 
The victory avenged a 103-101 overtime loss at Queens from back on January 9, which was subsequently the Railsplitters' last loss. In that contest, the Royals overcame four different three-point deficits in overtime to defeat Lincoln Memorial.
 
Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) led the Railsplitters with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds and three steals before fouling out after 27 minutes of work. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) scored 15 points with 12 coming in the second half while handing out six assists. Shaw finished with 15 points, three assists and two boards, while Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. Hunter Spaw (Bean Station, Tenn.) added 10 points and four steals in 30 minutes of action, and had the highest plus/minus of any LMU player with a plus-8 impact on the game.
 
Lincoln Memorial's offensive numbers were the inverse of the Royals', as the Railsplitters were stifled in the first half with a 40.6 percent mark. LMU recovered and went 17-for-27 (63 percent) with six three-pointers in the second.
 
Four of Queens' five starters finished with double-figure points. Jalin Alexander led all players with 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting, while Ike Agusi had 15 points and three assists. Mike Davis scored 12 points and handed out four assists, Todd Withers had 11 points, and Jared Hendryx led the team with six rebounds and a pair of blocks in 23 minutes off the bench.
 
The Royals came out red hot and connected on 11 of their first 15 shot attempts to take a 23-13 lead on a Hendryx dunk at the 11:05 mark. Agusi made a jumper on the following Queens possession to extend the lead to 25-13 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half, which was the largest lead of the game for either team.
 
After that, Spaw scored five straight points to power a 7-2 run that whittled the deficit down to 27-20, but the Royals quickly pushed the lead back to 10 at 32-22 on a three-pointer from Alexander.
 
Queens maintained a 10-point edge until a 6-0 LMU run made it 36-32 on a Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) layup with 2:35 to go. However, the Royals ended the half by scoring four unanswered points to take a 42-34 lead into the break.
 
Queens kept a firm grasp on the lead early in the second half, but a 9-2 run capped by a Taylor three-pointer tied the game at 51-51 with 15:22 to go. The Railsplitters were never able to take the lead over that passage, though, while Queens pulled back ahead 57-51 on a pair of Darryl White free throws.
 
Lincoln Memorial fought back once again and finally took its first lead since the 15:59 mark of the first half as a jumper by Perry made it 58-57 in favor of the home team. However, that would be the Railsplitters' last points for nearly a four-minute stretch, while Queens churned out an 11-0 run to pull ahead 68-58 with less than seven minutes to play.
 
But after that, the Royals would muster just six free throws over the next eight minutes, while the Railsplitters fought and clawed their way back until Choice converted a four-point play with 2:55 to go that put Lincoln Memorial back in front 71-70.
 
The lead changed hands four times after that, but a thunderous alley-oop dunk from Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) looked to have sealed the game with LMU up 79-76 with 20 seconds left. However, the Royals came charging down to the other end and Agusi canned a three-pointer to tie it up.
 
That set up Shaw's heroics, as he received the in-bound pass and took it the entire length of the court before knocking down a short jumper from the right wing with 0.6 seconds remaining. Agusi's last-second heave hit the top of the backboard to bring the instant classic to a close, as Shaw was mobbed by his teammates.
 
For the Railsplitters, it was their third consecutive Saturday game that has come down to the wire. Coach Schertz noted that Lincoln Memorial has learned from its early-season struggles in close games and has been forged by the fire to produce in those situations.
 
"We lost the three coin flip games that we played through January. The last three weekends we've been in basically a tie game with two to three minutes to go, and we found a way to win all three. It gives you confidence that if you do the right things down the stretch, you're going to give yourself a chance."
 
He also doesn't expect that to be the last time the Railsplitters see the Royals, who are still tied atop the South Atlantic Conference standings and currently the No. 1 ranked team in the region.
 
"It lets you know how good Queens is. If we are going to get where we want to go, we have to find ways to continue to get better because I have a hunch that if we're fortunate enough to advance in the SAC tournament or the NCAA Tournament we are going to have to go through them."
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters host Anderson for their final regular-season home game on Wednesday, February 22 at 8 p.m. Lincoln Memorial defeated the Trojans 94-77 in the first meeting this season back on January 11.
 
Quick Hits
-The Railsplitters won despite trailing for more than 34 minutes and leading for just 3:15.
-The two teams were neck and neck in nearly every statistical category. The Railsplitters shot 51 percent compared to a 52 percent mark for Queens. Queens had 14 turnovers while LMU had 13. The Railsplitters scored 21 points off those turnovers while the Royals scored 19. LMU won the rebounding battle 31-30 and outscored the Royals 38-34 in the paint. LMU made eight threes; Queens made seven.
-The Railsplitters made eight of their last nine shots.
-Lincoln Memorial celebrated Senior Day prior to the game, honoring Chris Perry, Luquon Choice, Hunter Spaw and Paul Woodson.
-The Railsplitters improved to 11-2 all-time against Queens and 6-0 in Harrogate.