GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Trevon Shaw (St. Helena Island, S.C.) scored a career-high 30 points as the No. 9 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Railsplitters (26-4) shot 54 percent from the field and buried a season-high 17 three-pointers to ransack the fourth-seeded Carson-Newman Eagles (19-11) 105-62 in the South Atlantic Conference Championship semifinals on Saturday at Timmons Arena.
 
The win was noteworthy for several reasons. First and foremost, the win advances Lincoln Memorial to the title game of the SAC Championship for the fifth consecutive season, where the Railsplitters will be looking to claim their third SAC tournament championship of the past four seasons. The Railsplitters also extended their winning streak to 16 games and handed the Eagles the second-worst loss in the history of the Carson-Newman men's basketball program. It matched the largest margin of victory for either team in the 204-game history of the series.
 
"I was really proud of our guys," said head coach Josh Schertz. "That was probably the best game we played since the last time we played Carson-Newman in January in terms of our intensity. We had won 15 straight coming into today, but I thought our record was better than we had played. We hadn't played great but we had won some games. It was good to see our guys ramp it up and be focused and together today. We played as well as we have all season. That's a good sign as we head into March."
 
The Railsplitters dominated every facet of Saturday's semifinal showdown, shooting 53.7 percent for the game, including a sizzling 21-for-36 (58.3 percent) effort in the second half. Lincoln Memorial also went 17-for-35 from three-point range, which were the program's most three-pointers in a game since hitting 18 in a win over Newberry in February 2016. The Railsplitters also finished a nearly-perfect 16-for-18 at the charity stripe and outrebounded the Eagles 45-28.
 
Carson-Newman, the nation's 17th-most efficient offense, shot 34.8 percent in the contest and finished a dreadful 3-for-19 from three-point range. That was the worst shooting performance of the season for the Eagles and their lowest field-goal percentage since December 17, 2014. The Eagles shot 30 percent in the first half to fall into a 22-point hole at the break.
 
Shaw led the Railsplitters' offensive assault by pouring in a career-best 30 points on 11-for-15 shooting and a 6-of-10 mark from three-point range. That effort surpassed his previous career-high of 25 points against Queens on January 9. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) scored 21 points with seven three-pointers while grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds and dishing out four assists. Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) had 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and 10 rebounds before fouling out after 19 minutes of action. Cornelius Taylor (Claxton, Ga.) chipped in 11 points.
 
Lincoln Memorial coasted to a 43-point victory despite All-SAC first team selection Chris Perry (Bartow, Fla.) scoring just seven points on a 2-for-4 effort from the field.
 
Carson-Newman's SAC Player of the Year Charles Clark scored 16 points, but needed 17 shots to reach that mark, finishing 5-for-17 from the field with just six rebounds and two assists over 32 minutes of work. Shaun Jones led the Eagles with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Sawyer Williams scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting. No other Carson-Newman player finished with more than six points in the contest.
 
The Eagles raced out to a 9-5 lead early in the contest, but a 13-0 run capped by a tip-in from Terry put the Railsplitters ahead 18-9 with just over 11 minutes left in the first half. Lincoln Memorial extended the lead to 10 points at 25-15 on a bucket from Perry at the 8:08 mark. Carson-Newman briefly cut the deficit to eight on the following possession, but a three-pointer from Choice and a bucket by Shaw pushed the Railsplitters ahead 30-17 with six minutes remaining.
 
Carson-Newman stayed within striking distance and trailed by just 11 points at 33-22 following a tip-in from Jones, but the Railsplitters closed the half on a 12-1 run to carry a 22-point lead into the break. Choice ended that flurry with a three-pointer with six seconds left to cap an 18-point half.
 
The Railsplitters wasted little time increasing their lead in the second half, opening with a 20-6 spurt to pull ahead 65-29 on a three-pointer by Shaw with 15:32 left in regulation. Lincoln Memorial never led by less than 31 points after that, while back-to-back buckets from Terry extended the lead to 41 at 88-47 with 7:39 left. Lincoln Memorial's lead crested at 46 points with just over three minutes left before the Railsplitters settled for a 43-point margin of victory.
 
That tied the most lopsided win in the nearly 100-year history of the LMU-Carson-Newman series, as the Eagles beat the Railsplitters by 43 points on February 7, 1966. It was Lincoln Memorial's third win by at least 30 points in the past seven meetings, as Lincoln Memorial crushed the Eagles by 32 points at Tex Tuner Arena on January 25.
 
The Railsplitters face the Queens Royals in the South Atlantic Conference Championship title game at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Timmons Arena. Lincoln Memorial and Queens split the regular-season series, with the Royals winning 103-101 in overtime in the first meeting and the Railsplitters returning the favor with an 81-79 victory the second time around. Queens routed Wingate 79-51 in Saturday's second semifinal game.
 
Live stats, video and audio links for Sunday's SAC Championship tilt are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com. The game can also be watched on ESPN3.
 
Quick Hits
Shaw scored 23 of his 30 points in the second half. The Railsplitters scored 60 points as a unit in the second half and went 8-for-16 from three…The Railsplitters averaged a sizzling 1.346 points per possession…Lincoln Memorial scored 36 points in the paint and tallied 18 second-chance points off of 10 offensive boards….The Railsplitters will be looking to win their fourth overall SAC tournament championship (2011, 2014, 2016)