SALISBURY, N.C. – The 11th-ranked Railsplitters (23-4, 18-3 SAC) can clinch at least a share of their fifth consecutive South Atlantic Conference title on Saturday when they close out the regular season against the Catawba Indians (18-9, 12-9 SAC) inside of Goodman Gymnasium. Lincoln Memorial enters that contest with a 13-game winning streak, while Catawba is coming off of a 32-point win over Wingate. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
 
With a win on Saturday or a loss by Queens, the Railsplitters will at worst share the SAC regular-season title, serve as the No. 1 seed for the upcoming SAC Championship and likely solidify their bid to host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional for the third straight year. A win paired with an unlikely loss by the Royals at Tusculum would give Lincoln Memorial the outright league title. Prior to LMU's unprecedented run of SAC dominance, no team had ever won more than three straight league titles.
 
The Railsplitters extended their winning streak to 13 games and improved to 81-6 in SAC play over the past four seasons with a 93-71 win over Anderson in the regular-season home finale on Wednesday night. Lincoln Memorial used a 15-0 first-half run and authored a 10-0 run later in the second half to cruise to victory. Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) and Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) combined for 43 points, while the LMU defense held the SAC's leading scorer, Randall Shaw, to 14 points on 3-for-17 shooting.
 
Redshirt-senior Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) enters the final regular-season game of his career needing just five three-pointers to reach 400 for his career and 26 points to hit the 1,900-point mark. He would become the first player in SAC or program history with 400 career threes and the fourth LMU player and the first of the NCAA era to reach 1,900 points. Choice would be only the sixth player in SAC history to hit that number.
 
Catawba enters the final regular-season game with an 18-9 overall record, a 12-9 mark in SAC play and tied for fifth place in the league standings, but the Indians proved just how capable they are with an 89-57 evisceration of the Wingate Bulldogs on Wednesday night in Salisbury. The Bulldogs entered that contest as winners in 15 of their last 16 games and ranked seventh in the Southeast Region poll.
 
In that win over Wingate, five Catawba players hit double figures while the Indians held the visiting Bulldogs to just 35.3 percent shooting, including a 5-for-17 mark from three. Catawba outscored Wingate by 19 points in the second half alone.
 
If not for some streaky shooting, Catawba could claim a spot among the upper echelon of the SAC. The Indians are averaging 83.6 points per game and shooting 46.9 percent from the field despite ranking dead last in the SAC in three-point percentage with a dismal 29.2 percent clip.
 
The Indians have three elite players in junior guard Jameel Taylor, senior guard KJ Arrington and junior forward Jerrin Morrison. Taylor is leading the club with 17.1 points per game on 51.5 percent shooting to go along with 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Arrington, who missed all of last season with an injury, has had a solid bounce-back season with 15.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Morrison is chipping in 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while shooting 45.5 percent from the field.
 
Troy Warren – a 6-9, 225-pound center – and Malik Constantine – a 6-6 forward – are also capable interior threats for Catawba. Warren is pitching in 8.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game and shooting 65 percent from the field, while Constantine is putting up 8.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Warren had a career-high 34 points last weekend in a win at Brevard.
 
Catawba is an outstanding rebounding unit that is ranked second in the SAC in rebounds per game (42.5) and rebounding margin (plus 6.0) while leading the league in offensive rebounds per game with 13.9. The Indians nearly doubled up Wingate on the glass 45-24 in Wednesday's win.
 
The Railsplitters are 18-11 all-time against Catawba and have won 12 of the last 13 meetings, including a 101-80 victory on January 14 at Tex Turner Arena. In that contest, Perry, Choice and Shaw combined for 72 points, as LMU shot 50 percent and held the visitors to a 37.8 percent clip. Catawba opened the game on a 9-0 run before the Railsplitters shook to life and authored a 26-point turnaround to lead by as many as 17 in the first half.
 
Lincoln Memorial is 5-8 all-time in Salisbury, but has won three straight at Goodman Gymnasium. The Railsplitters pulled out an 82-64 win there last season and squeaked out a 60-57 victory there to close out the 2014-15 regular-season schedule. Catawba's last win in the series came there in February 2013 – a 73-63 victory.
 
The Indians are 9-4 at Goodman Gymnasium this season, but lost to both Newberry (92-87) and Anderson (73-67) there before rebounding with the 32-point beatdown over Wingate.
 
Tip-off between Lincoln Memorial and Catawba is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
 
Five things to watch against Catawba
1. The Indians are a pretty steady defensive team that is holding opponents to 78.6 points per game on 43 percent shooting. Catawba allowed Anderson to shoot 52 percent and Queens to convert 60 percent of its shots, but held lowly Brevard to 31.1 percent shooting and Wingate to 35.3 percent shooting in its last two games.
 
2. In the first meeting, Morrison scored 23 points on 8-for-17 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Warren added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Arrington went 5-for-10 from the floor to contribute 11 points. No other Catawba player finished with more than seven.
 
3. Catawba averages 4.4 blocks per game, the fourth-highest mark in the South Atlantic Conference. No single Catawba player is averaging more than a block per game, but Morrison, Taylor and Jeremy McLaughlin each have at least 20 for the season.
 
4. The Indians are shooting 49 percent from the field in the month of February and have shot over 50 percent in three consecutive games. Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in field-goal percentage defense (39.8 percent) and three-point defense (33.5 percent).
 
5. A win on Saturday would secure the fifth-longest winning streak of the Josh Schertz era. The Railsplitters won a program-record 24 straight games last season, which broke the previous high of 22 straight wins to start the 2010-11 campaign. Lincoln Memorial also has winning streaks of 20 (2014-15) and 15 (2011-12) on record.