HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The No. 1 Railsplitters (24-1, 17-0 SAC) aim to hit the 25-win mark for the eighth consecutive season on Saturday when they make the final - and longest - road trip of the regular season by paying a visit to the Coker Cobras (11-14, 8-9 SAC) for a 4 p.m. tip-off.
 
Lincoln Memorial will be looking to extend its overall winning streak to 14 games and draw one step closer to clinching the program's sixth consecutive South Atlantic Conference regular-season title. The Railsplitters have won a league-record 31 straight SAC games and is also in the midst of the longest current road winning streak in the country (20 games).
 
The Railsplitters recorded the first 25-win season of head coach Josh Schertz's tenure during the 2010-11 season when they finished an impressive 27-3. Lincoln Memorial has not won less than 25 games since then, piling up an unprecedented seven straight 25-win campaigns. The Railsplitters will try to make it eight straight on Saturday, which would double the total number of 25-win seasons in the entire history of the LMU men's basketball program prior to the 2010-11 campaign.
 
Getting healthy will be the Railsplitters' first priority, though, as the flu bug bit down on the team and left five players sidelined for Wednesday night's nonconference matchup against Hiwassee, including starters Emanuel Terry and Cornelius Taylor as well as rotation players Kamaran Calhoun, Rhondi Hackett and TJ Harvin.
 
Thankfully, Lincoln Memorial had enough depth to cruise to a 109-69 victory over the Tigers at Tex Turner Arena. The game was close early as Hiwassee hit seven of its first 10 three-point tries, but Lincoln Memorial outscored the visitors 67-32 over the final 22 minutes to power the landslide victory. Trevon Shaw scored a game-high 23 points in 23 minutes off the bench, while Alex Dahling hit seven threes to score a career-high 21 points. Deshawn Patterson led an unselfish effort with a career-high 13 assists, which fell just one shy of tying the program record.
 
The Railsplitters made it work with a depleted roster on Wednesday but they will need all hands on deck for a brutal stretch run that begins with Saturday's seven-hour road trip to Hartsville, S.C. to face a gritty Coker team.
 
The Cobras were picked 10th in the preseason SAC coaches poll and have far exceeded those expectations under the direction of second-year head coach Aric Samuel, who has Coker sitting in sole possession of fifth place with an 8-9 conference mark.
 
Coker heads into Saturday's matchup looking to rebound from a heartbreaking 79-77 loss to Catawba. That game was tied late until Catawba's Jeremy McLaughlin scored with 15 seconds left to break the stalemate and blocked the Cobras' last-second three-point try to clinch the victory, capping a back-and-forth game that saw 14 ties and 16 lead changes. Prior to that loss, the Cobras had won three straight games with victories over Mars Hill (92-84), Newberry (86-80) and Tusculum (104-93).
 
Coker is a solid offensive team that plays at the second-fastest pace in the SAC with nearly 68 shot attempts per game, resulting in 84 points per outing. The Cobras also crash the offensive glass hard with an average of 12.0 second-chance opportunities per game. That pace has, however, compromised the team's defense, as Coker ranks ninth in the league in points per game allowed (86.6) and field-goal percentage defense (48.2).
 
A bunch of players typically see the court for Coker, as 10 different guys have made at least 20 appearances this season. Senior forward Donte Samuels leads the team with 15.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, while junior Khalil Halls is putting up 15.0 points per game despite shooting only 39 percent from the field. Senior Jake Barrett is also in double figures with 14 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest.
 
Sophomore Demarco Jackson (8.4 ppg), junior Larry Cooper (7.3 ppg) and sophomore Marquis Green (7.3 ppg) have also been factors offensively.
 
The Railsplitters absolutely abused the Cobras the first time the two teams met this season back on January 6 at Tex Turner Arena, shooting 63 percent as part of a 13-for-28 effort from three-point range to power a 120-74 victory. Lincoln Memorial led 55-30 at the break and never let off the gas in the second half. Coker had a decent offensive day with 47.5 percent shooting but also turned the ball over 25 times in the 46-point loss.
 
Terry paced LMU with 27 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks, while Shaw scored 19 points with three steals. Dorian Pinson had 18 points, six steals, five assists and five rebounds, while Taylor added 15 points and five assists. Halls led the Cobras with 18 points. Samuels and Barrett chipped in 16 apiece.
 
Lincoln Memorial has never lost to Coker since the two programs first met in December 2013, compiling a perfect 9-0 mark in the series. The last four wins have come in decisive fashion: 120-74, 97-60, 115-74 and 106-57. The narrowest margin of victory for the Railsplitters came in January 2015, when they squeaked by with a 62-58 win in Hartsville.
 
Tip-off between Lincoln Memorial and Coker is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.lmurailsplitters.com.
 
Quick Hits:
 
- The Railsplitters had three players - Terry, Shaw and Pinson - named to the Bevo Francis Award top 50 watch list on Thursday, which is given annually to the best college basketball player competing outside of the NCAA Division I. Lincoln Memorial is the only team to have three players represented.
 
- Lincoln Memorial returns home next week to complete the regular-season schedule against Carson-Newman on Wednesday and Queens on Saturday. The Queens game on February 24 will be aired live on ESPN3.
 
- The Railsplitters are hoping to move one step closer to completing the second perfect SAC season in league history. Lincoln Memorial was responsible for the only other unbeaten SAC season in 2015-16 when the Railsplitters went 22-0.
 
- Coker is 7-5 at home this season compared to 3-8 on the road.