HARROGATE, Tenn. – The fourth time was the charm for the No. 7 nationally ranked Queens Royals, who topped the No. 1 Railsplitters 69-57 in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional on Tuesday night at Tex Turner Arena to book a trip to the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Lincoln Memorial (32-2), which fell just short in its quest to win a third straight region title, ends the 2017-18 campaign with the second-most wins in South Atlantic Conference and program history. Queens (31-3), meanwhile, earned its first bid to the Elite Eight since 2003 and snapped a four-game losing streak to the Railsplitters, which included three setbacks this season as well as a loss on its home court in the 2017 Southeast Regional title game. In addition to that, the Royals snapped LMU's 21-game winning streak and ended the Railsplitters' 25-game winning streak at Tex Turner Arena.
In the biggest game of the season, shots simply did not fall for Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters, who led the nation in field-goal percentage offense for nearly the entire season, shot 38.6 percent, went 3-for-15 from three and mustered their second-lowest point total of the year.
The Royals weren't much better, shooting 44.2 percent with an 8-for-23 mark from three, but came up with the shots they needed in the most pivotal moments of the game.
Dorian Pinson and
Emanuel Terry – the program's two longest tenured seniors – led the Railsplitters in their final game at Tex Turner Arena and were both named to the Southeast Regional All-Tournament Team. Pinson scored 16 points with eight rebounds and two assists, while Terry produced his 16th double-double of the season with 13 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.
Pinson and Terry end their careers as the winningest players in conference and program history with a remarkable 126-14 record. Over their four years, the Railsplitters won four SAC regular-season titles, two SAC tournament championships, amassed four straight 30-win seasons and won two region championships.
Josh Odem scored 11 points in the final game of his one and only season with the Railsplitters.
Trevon Shaw, the team's final senior, was limited to five points and one three-pointer to fall eight points shy of cracking the 1,000-point threshold and two triples short of matching the SAC and program single-season record.
Ike Agusi led Queens to victory with 16 points, while Jalin Alexander, the Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player, scored 13. Lewis Diankulu added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Mike Davis contributed 10 points.
Both teams struggled to get into a rhythm on the offensive end initially as the Railsplitters and Royals each started 3-for-8 from the field and were tied at 8-8 at the under-16 media timeout.
After Lincoln Memorial led for the entire opening stretch, Todd Withers, who finished with just five points in the game, hit a layup and drained a three to spark a 7-0 run that put the Royals up 15-11 at the 11:44 mark. The Railsplitters clawed back to tie the game at 15-15, but another 5-0 run capped by a three-point play from Diankulu gave Queens a five-point edge.
Terry blocked a shot on one end and dunked it on the other to cut the Royals' lead to 20-19 with 8:58 remaining in the half. But Queens answered again with back-to-back three-pointers from Alexander to take its largest lead up to that point at 26-19 with just over seven minutes left.
Lincoln Memorial closed the gap to five on two separate occasions over the next stretch before a pair of Alexander free throws put Queens up 33-23 with five minutes left in the half.
The Royals maintained a 10-point cushion at 35-25 until the Railsplitters locked in defensively and held them scoreless for over three minutes and reeled off an 8-0 run to close the gap to 35-33. However, Agusi drained a deep three with the shot clock winding down to end that run. Neither team scored for the final 50 seconds of the half and the Royals took a 38-33 lead into the break.
It marked just the fourth time all season that Lincoln Memorial trailed at the half and the third time it happened against Queens. Unlike the two times that preceded it, the Railsplitters were unable to rally this time around.
The Railsplitters started slow once again in the second half and needed nearly four minutes to score their first point of the frame. Thankfully, Queens wasn't much better and only managed to extend its lead to 10. Pinson ended that early drought with a three-point play to cut the deficit to 43-36 at the under-16 media timeout.
Lincoln Memorial continued to push after that but was never able to close the gap to less than five until a 6-0 run sparked by a bucket from Pinson and a three-pointer from Taylor brought the Railsplitters to within one at 50-49 with 10:39 left.
That's as close as it would get, though, as a more than four-minute scoring drought buried the Railsplitters in a 12-point hole. Davis hit a three-pointer, Agusi knocked down a jumper and Diankulu hit a free throw to wrap up a 12-0 Queens run that extended the lead to 63-51 with less than four minutes remaining on the clock.
A tip-in and free throw by Terry ended the Railsplitters' long scoring drought and Odem finished off a clutch three-point play to make it a two-possession game at 63-57 with 1:35 on the clock.
The Railsplitters would not score again after that, though, as Queens finished off the win by knocked down six free throws in the final 57 seconds.
Lincoln Memorial was also hampered by poor free-throw shooting down the stretch as the Railsplitters finished 4-for-9 at the charity stripe in the second half. That included a couple misses on the front end of one-and-ones that prevented LMU from getting over the hump.
Queens outrebounded the Railsplitters 36-32 with a 26-20 edge in defensive boards.
