SAINT JOSEPH, Mo. – After suffering a 10-point overtime loss the day before, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team bounced back in a big way by defeating Davenport 98-48 Saturday afternoon inside the Saint Joseph Civic Arena in downtown Saint Joseph, Missouri. The Railsplitters' second game of the 2019 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic and second outing of their 2019-20 campaign provided an offensive explosion and suffocating defense as LMU shot the ball at a 64 percent clip (32-of-50) and went 18-for-27 (66.7%) from outside.
 
The 50-point win is the largest margin of victory in any game of the four Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic tournaments, while the Railsplitters' 18 made three-pointers are also a tournament record.
 
Getting a career-high 24 points from sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley and having five players reach double figures in scoring, LMU (1-1) held the Panthers (1-1) to 34.7 percent (17-of-49) shooting and out-rebounded Davenport 34-20.
 
The Railsplitters wasted no time in setting the pace, getting a pair of layups from redshirt senior Rhondi Hackett within the first two minutes of play and never trailing in the 40 minutes of action. A three-pointer by redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Henry at the 11:53 mark of the first half gave LMU a commanding 18-point lead at 25-7 and the Railsplitters never looked back.
 
Five consecutive points by Henry, including a fastbreak trey capped a 15-7 LMU run and increased the lead to 27 at 40-13 with just under six minutes to go in the half. After the Panthers trimmed it to 21, the Railsplitters ended the opening half on a 10-4 run and took a 52-25 advantage into the locker room as senior guard Anthony Brown got a runner in the paint to go right before the halftime buzzer.
 
LMU shot 75 percent (18-for-24) in the first 20 minutes of play and was 9-of-12 (75%) from deep. Meanwhile, Davenport connected on just 33.3 percent (8-of-24) of its shots.
 
A three by McCauley just over six minutes into the second half put the Railsplitters up by 28 before LMU went on a 10-3 run capped by a pair of layups from redshirt senior guard/forward Kamaran Calhoun. Leading by 35 at 76-41 with just over 10:30 to go, the Railsplitters outscored the Panthers 22-4 over the final 10 minutes of play.
 
Six different LMU players made a three-pointer led by McCauley's 6-for-9 outside game as Henry finished 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and redshirt junior guard Devin Whitfield 4-for-6. In just his second game as a Railsplitter Whitfield scored 18 points, while Henry tallied 14 points and five rebounds and sophomore guard Julius Brown posted 11 points on 2-of-2 three-point shooting. Hackett also reached double figures with 10 points and Anthony Brown dished out a game-high seven assists, to go along with nine points. Both redshirt freshman guard M.J. Armstrong and freshman guard Jeremiah Keene scored their first career points. Redshirt senior guard Myles Smith played the final 3:15 of the game.
 
Davenport shot 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from distance for the game and was led by guard Evan Hines, who scored 10 points and collected five rebounds. The Panthers also got 10 points from guard Janeau Joubert, who was 2-for-2 from deep, and seven points from Jarrin Randall.  
 
Of Note
The 98 points scored by LMU are the most since Feb. 20 of last season when the Railsplitters racked up 104 in a 22-point South Atlantic Conference win over Mars Hill. The 50-point triumph is the largest margin of victory for LMU since defeating Hiwassee 107-54 on Feb. 13 last winter. The Railsplitters' 64 percent mark is the eighth-best shooting outing in program history and the highest field-goal percentage for LMU since March 11, 2017, when the Blue and Grey shot 64.7 percent (44-of-68) in a 118-86 win over Pfeiffer in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional in Harrogate. Saturday's deadly barrage from deep is the sixth-best three-point shooting performance by the Railsplitters in terms of percentage (66.7) and highest mark LMU has recorded from distance since Jan. 25, 2017, when it went 15-of-22 (68.2%) in a 108-76 home win over Carson-Newman. The matchup with Davenport was the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters will have nearly a week off from game action before returning to the hardwood next weekend for LMU's home opener Friday, Nov. 8. Hosting the 2019 SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge inside Tex Turner Arena in Harrogate Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, the Railsplitters will face Clayton State at 7:30 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, LMU will take on receiving votes USC Aiken in a 4 p.m. tip-off. Friday's game against the Lakers is sponsored by Appalachian Regional Hospital, while Saturday's tilt with the Pacers is presented by Angelo's in the Gap.
 
About the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic
The Small College Basketball National Hall of Fame Classic, presented by Hillyard, is the nation's most prestigious in-season event for NCAA Division II men's basketball. The event includes a press conference, a panel discussion with the Hall of Fame Inductees, the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, a social event, and the fantastic games of the Division II Classic, which annually features some of the finest programs within Division II basketball. The event began in 2016, and was played in the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. In 2018, the event moved to Saint Joseph, Missouri, and the games are played inside St. Joseph Civic Arena. The two-day tournament takes place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2 with the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Induction to be held Thursday, Oct. 31 at the Missouri Theatre in downtown St. Joseph. This year's Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic features five nationally-ranked programs with seven of the eight participating teams receiving votes in the NABC Preseason Top 25. Joining the sixth-ranked Railsplitters in Missouri are defending national champion and top-ranked Northwest Missouri State, No. 7 West Texas A&M, ninth-ranked Southern Nazarene, No. 22 Daemen College, receiving votes Davenport University and receiving votes USC Aiken, in addition to Missouri Western.
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter basketball throughout the 2019-20 season.