HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) scored 31 of his season-high 36 points in the second half to will the 21st-ranked Railsplitters (18-4, 13-3 SAC) to a 97-87 win over the Wingate Bulldogs (14-8, 11-5 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Tex Turner Arena. The win marked Lincoln Memorial's eighth straight while snapping Wingate's 11-game winning streak.
 
In a game that featured eight ties and eight lead changes, saw both teams establish leads as large as 10 points and found the Railsplitters trailing late in regulation, Choice produced one of the defining moments of his illustrious career by carrying short-handed Lincoln Memorial past the hottest team in the conference.
 
"It was a whale of a game," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said. "Ten points is not indicative of how the game went; we were trailing with four and a half minutes to go. It was the first time all year we had to really grind out a close one and I was proud of us.
 
"In close games like that it comes down to your defense and execution. I thought we defended well and executed at a high level. We obviously ran a lot through Luquon because he was so great. The guys did a good job from a defensive standpoint, rebounding and execution, so it was good to do that against an outstanding team like Wingate."
 
Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) carried the load in the first half, scoring 15 of his career-high 21 points in the first 20 minutes to help the Railsplitters establish a three-point lead at the break.
 
But Choice took over in the second half. After dealing with foul trouble and scoring just five points in the first frame, Choice went 11-for-18 from the field and 6-for-9 from three in the second half to rack up 31 points, which would have been a season high by itself. He ended the game with 36 points - two shy of his career high.
 
"I've always said that I think he's the best two-way player in the country and he was just unbelievable tonight," Schertz said. "It was one of the best performances in this arena in my nine years, if not the best, given the circumstances." 
 
In addition to Choice and Taylor, who combined for 57 of the team's 97 points, Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) logged his third straight double-double and fifth of the season with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) returned after a nine-game absence and fell just shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) scored eight points and led the team with four assists.
 
With the win, Lincoln Memorial moves to 20-9 all-time against Wingate and defeated the Bulldogs for the 10th consecutive time dating back to January 2014. The Railsplitters also remained in second place in the SAC standings and two games back of Queens.
 
The Bulldogs canned three of their first four three-pointers to race out to a 13-5 lead early in the first half. Lincoln Memorial's deficit later grew to 17-7 on a jumper from Josh Dominguez at the 14:53 mark.
 
Wingate maintained an eight-point lead at 24-16 on a bucket from Keith Griffin with 11:45 left in the first half, but the Railsplitters ripped off a 15-2 run over the next passage of play to establish a 31-26 lead on a triple by Taylor at the 6:47 mark.
 
Wingate would score five unanswered points to draw the game even at 33-33 with 3:43 left. The game was tied two more times in the first half before Taylor reeled off five straight points by himself to send the Railsplitters into the break with a 43-40 lead.
 
Choice started cooking early in the second half, draining three three-pointers in quick succession to balloon Lincoln Memorial's lead to 56-49 with 14:36 remaining.
 
The Railsplitters maintained a firm hold on the lead as time ticked away, but Wingate kept within striking distance. A jumper from Mike Baez closed the gap to 66-63, but a 6-0 run put Lincoln Memorial on top by eight points with just under eight minutes to go.
 
However, Wingate held the Railsplitters without a point for more than three minutes and authored an 11-0 run over that span to take a 74-72 lead with less than five minutes to play.
 
It went back and forth after that, but the brilliance of Choice ultimately prevailed, as the redshirt-senior scored 11 straight points for the Railsplitters to put the home team ahead 87-80 with 1:03 left on the clock. From there, Lincoln Memorial iced the game at the free-throw line, while Terry put the exclamation point on the victory with a breakaway windmill jam.
 
Josh Dominguez powered the Bulldogs with 34 points on a 12-for-14 effort from the free-throw line. Mike Baez had 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Isiah Cureton scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench.
 
The Railsplitters finished shooting 50 percent from the field, went 10-for-22 from three-point range and were a nearly perfect 17-for-20 at the charity stripe. Wingate shot 45.5 percent from the floor and went 18-for-21 at the free-throw line.
 
Up Next
Lincoln Memorial hosts in-state rivals Tusculum at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. The Railsplitters will be looking for the season sweep after beating the Pioneers 90-68 in Greeneville, Tenn. on January 18.  
 
Quick Hits
-The Railsplitters were getting hammered on the boards early, but righted the ship and ended up finishing with a 37-37 stalemate for the game. Wingate did, however, score 14 points off 10 offensive rebounds.
-Prior to Saturday night, Wingate hadn't allowed a team to shoot above 45 percent since Lincoln Memorial did it in the first meeting on December 14.
-Wingate's 11-game winning streak was its longest since the start of the 2000-01 season.