CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The 15th-ranked and second-seeded Railsplitters (26-5) will look to slow down the nation's highest scoring team in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, as they face the seventh-seeded Pfeiffer Falcons (26-4) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. inside the Levine Center on the campus of Queens University. The winner of that contest advances to the round of 32 to face the winner of No. 3 UNC Pembroke and No. 6 Limestone at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Lincoln Memorial is making its seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where the Railsplitters are 9-6 all-time. Lincoln Memorial is the defending Southeast Region champion and will be looking to make its second consecutive run to the NCAA Division II National Championship game.
 
The past two Southeast Region Championships were hosted at Tex Turner Arena, but this year's tournament is being held at Queens after the Royals outlasted the Railsplitters 75-72 in the South Atlantic Conference Championship title game on Sunday.
 
In that contest, the Railsplitters limited Queens to 41.7 percent shooting and a 1-for-15 effort from three-point range, but the Royals accounted for a 13-point difference at the free-throw line (24-11) and turned Lincoln Memorial over 12 times in the second half alone to power the win, which snapped the Railsplitters' 16-game winning streak. That was Queens' second win over LMU this season, as the Royals captured a 103-101 overtime win in Charlotte back on January 9.
 
The Railsplitters will be led into the NCAA Tournament by senior All-SAC first team selections Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) and Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.). Choice is averaging 18.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game on 49 percent shooting from three-point range, while Perry is contributing 18.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game on 68.4 percent shooting. Choice, who needs two three-pointers to break the program's single-season record of 127, is 40 points away from 2,000 for his career.
 
Lincoln Memorial has three other players in Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.), Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) and Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) that are averaging at least 10 points per game. Shaw, who had a career-high 30 points in the Railsplitters' SAC semifinal win over Carson-Newman, is contributing 12.5 points per game, while Taylor and Terry are chipping in 10.9 and 10 points per game, respectively.
 
While the Railsplitters are no strangers to postseason play, Pfeiffer is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 and is making its fifth-ever appearance in the 64-team field. The Falcons are 6-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, which includes a run to the Elite Eight in 2004.
 
Pfeiffer earned a share of the Conference Carolinas regular-season title, finishing the regular season with a 25-3 overall record and a 17-3 conference mark. The top-seeded Falcons survived an upset bid in the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament and hung on for an 86-84 win over Erskine, but were ousted in the semifinals by King, who nabbed a 100-98 win on a buzzer-beating bucket with .1 seconds remaining. That snapped a 14-game winning streak and represented the Falcons' first home loss of the season.
 
Pfeiffer is led by Conference Carolinas Player of the Year A.J. Clark and fellow All-CC first team selection Andrew Guerrero. In addition to that duo, Mike Smith was named to the All-CC second team and Josh Calhoun was an All-CC third team pick. All four of those players average at least 16 points per game, but Guerrero is the tallest of that quartet at 6-3.
 
Clark is putting up 21.4 points, 4.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 43 percent from three with 84 made three-pointers to his credit. Guerrero is averaging 18.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game on 47.2 percent shooting and a 41 percent mark from three. He is ranked eighth in the nation with 107 made three-pointers this season. Calhoun and Smith are chipping in 16.1 and 16 points per game, respectively.
 
Tusculum transfer Keith Jumper is the only player with any height that really factors into the equation for Pfeiffer, as the 6-8 forward is averaging 8.2 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game while shooting a whopping 70 percent from the floor.
 
What the Falcons lack in size they more than make up for with speed and shooting. Pfeiffer leads the nation in scoring by a wide margin with an average of 104.9 points per game. The Falcons launch three-pointers at an alarming rate, ranking second in the nation in total three-point attempts (1,005), total three-pointers made (400) and three-pointers per game (13.3). In addition to that, Pfeiffer is a relatively efficient offensive unit that is shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from three.
 
Pfeiffer mirrors SAC-foe Newberry in almost every way, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, where the Falcons utilize a full-court press to force a nation-leading 23.5 turnovers per game and average 12.7 steals per contest. Like Newberry, the Falcons are also content to trade baskets if they don't force a turnover, as they rank near the bottom of the national standings in both field-goal percentage defense (48.2 percent) and scoring defense (88.1 points per game allowed).
 
Lincoln Memorial should have a massive advantage on the backboards, as Pfeiffer is ranked 260th in the country in rebounding margin with a minus-4.3 for the season. The Falcons also provide little resistance at the front of the rim with an average of just 2.4 blocks per game.
 
Saturday marks the first meeting between Lincoln Memorial and Pfeiffer this century and only the third ever. The two programs last played on January 27, 1992, when the Railsplitters pulled out a 69-66 win in Harrogate. That was the first of two regular-season meetings during the 1991-92 campaign, as the Falcons won the other in December 1991, 90-73.
 
Tip-off between Lincoln Memorial and Pfeiffer is set for 2:30 on Saturday at the Levine Center in Charlotte, N.C. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com. Complete information regarding the 2017 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional can be found here.
 
Five things to watch against Pfeiffer:
1. The Falcons have hit triple figures in 18 of their 30 games this season and topped the 110-mark in 13 of those contests. On the other end of the spectrum, Pfeiffer has allowed its opponent to score at least 90 points 13 times.
 
2. Pfeiffer finds a way to get to the free-throw line, as the Falcons have attempted 797 total free throws this season, the seventh-highest mark in the country. Pfeiffer is shooting 72.5 percent at the charity stripe as well.
 
3. The Railsplitters are looking to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season. Prior to last season's run to the National Championship game, Lincoln Memorial had never made it past the second round, though.
 
4. Ten players are averaging at least 11 minutes per game for the Falcons. Of those 10, nine have made at least 26 appearances this season.
 
5. Pfeiffer isn't a great overall rebounding team, but the Falcons send five guys to the offensive glass in an effort to create second-chance points. In total, the Falcons average 12.6 offensive rebounds per game.