HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) and Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) combined for 55 points as the top-seeded and No. 9 nationally-ranked Railsplitters (25-4) rallied from a nine-point first-half deficit to take down the eight-seeded Tusculum Pioneers (12-17) 88-71 in the quarterfinals of the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Championship on Wednesday night at Tex Turner Arena.
 
Lincoln Memorial notched its 15th consecutive victory to hit the 25-win mark for the seventh straight season. The Railsplitters also remained unbeaten against Tusculum this decade, defeating the Pioneers for the 21st time in a row.
 
The win sends Lincoln Memorial to the semifinals of the SAC tournament for the seventh straight year, where they will square off against the fourth-seeded Carson-Newman Eagles at 5:30 on Saturday at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. Carson-Newman routed Newberry by 22 points in the SAC quarters on Wednesday night.
 
The final score wasn't indicative of how competitive Wednesday's quarterfinal-round draw was, as the Railsplitters trailed by as many as nine points in the opening half and faced a two-point deficit at the break, but outscored the Pioneers 51-32 in the second stanza to power the win.
 
"We were fortunate to only be down two at the half. Tusculum dominated the first half," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said. "I didn't mind that we didn't play well or shoot well in the first half, but my issue was that I didn't think we competed. Tusculum got good looks and just missed some, so we were fortunate to only be down two.
 
"I thought we did some good things in the second half. We played with more energy. You can have a bad shooting night, but you have to compensate with defense, effort and toughness. In the first half we didn't have any of those three things. In the second half, we played better defensively and played with more toughness."
 
The Railsplitters shot just 40 percent in the first half, but rebounded to shoot nearly 52 percent in the second half. All told, Lincoln Memorial shot 45.7 percent despite going 6-for-21 from three-point territory.
 
The Pioneers had no answer for Perry, who fell one point shy of matching his career-high mark with 30 points on 12-for-16 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. It was his ninth double-double of the season and third straight.
 
"He's a load down there. Chris got some one-on-one coverage and the guys did a good job of finding him," Schertz said. "Chris was pretty aggressive against the match-up zone, finding the seams and attacking them from the high post all the way down to the block area. He was the most focused and energetic of our players tonight, and had he not played that way we would have had no chance to win the game."
 
Choice added 25 points on 8-for-17 shooting and a 4-for-9 mark from three-point range. The Laurens, S.C. native hit his 400th career three-pointer and became the first LMU men's basketball player of the NCAA era to reach 1,900 points for his career.
 
Perry and Choice finished 20-for-33 from the field, but the rest of the team went 12-for-37. Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the only other player in double figures with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) chipped in nine points.
 
Kendall Patterson led Tusculum with 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting, while Chase Mounce scored 13 points with three three-pointers. Trey Blevins lifted the Pioneers with 10 points off the bench, but no other Tusculum player finished with more than seven points. Cory Fagan led the team with seven rebounds.
 
The Railsplitters scored the first four points of the game, but Tusculum countered with a 10-2 run to take a 10-6 lead on a three-pointer by Mounce at the 17:26 mark. Lincoln Memorial responded with a 7-0 spurt and regained the lead at 13-10 on a dunk from Perry with just over 15 minutes left in the half.
 
The Railsplitters retained a slight edge at 17-13 on a dunk from Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.), but the Pioneers reeled off seven unanswered points to pull back ahead 20-17 on a triple from Vincent Brown with a little less than 10 minutes left in the half.
 
Lincoln Memorial was never able to take the lead again in the half, while an old-fashioned three-point play from Blevins extended the Pioneers' cushion to 28-23 at the 7:36 mark. The Railsplitters closed the gap to 33-30 on a three-point play from Woodson, but a 6-0 run gave Tusculum its largest lead of the game at 39-30 with 2:31 left.
 
Perry powered a 7-0 closing run all by himself to trim the Railsplitters' halftime deficit to 39-37.
 
Lincoln Memorial and Tusculum battled back and forth early in the second half until the Railsplitters took the lead for good at 54-51 on a triple by Choice at the 15-minute mark.
 
After a lengthy scoring drought for both sides, Patterson knocked down a jumper to pull the Pioneers within one at 54-53, but a 6-0 run extended the Railsplitters' cushion to 60-53 on a bucket from Woodson with 11:45 left.
 
Tusculum clawed to within three points on a free throw from Caleb Hodnett with less than 10 minutes to play. However, the Railsplitters used a basket from Choice and two free throws from Taylor to push ahead 71-62 with six minutes left.
 
The Pioneers pulled back within six points (71-65), but an 11-3 run capped by buckets from Choice and Woodson made it an 82-68 lead with two minutes remaining. The Railsplitters never led by less than 12 after that and closed on a 6-1 run.
 
Lincoln Memorial will face Carson-Newman in the SAC Championship semifinals at 5:30 on Saturday at Furman's Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. The winner of that contest will advance to the SAC Championship title game to play either Queens or Wingate on Sunday.
 
Quick Hits
The Railsplitters dominated the paint, outscoring the Pioneers 50-26 inside the square and outrebounding the visitors 45-32…LMU assisted on 15 of its 32 field goals. Perry and Taylor led the way with four apiece…The Railsplitters improved to 6-0 all-time against Tusculum in the SAC tournament and defeated the Pioneers for the fourth time in the quarterfinal round…LMU's bench was outscored 19-4 by the Pioneers' second unit. Terry scored the only four points off the bench