HARROGATE, Tenn. – Reaching the century mark for the fifth time of 2019-20 and extending its nation-leading winning streak to 16, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team defeated visiting Mars Hill 100-79 Wednesday night inside Tex Turner Arena in Harrogate. The Railsplitters (16-1, 9-0) claimed their 21st-straight win over the Lions (7-8, 5-4) to remain unblemished in South Atlantic Conference play and at home (10-0).
 
Fueled by an offensive outburst and near triple-double effort from redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Henry, LMU scored 54 points in the paint, 17 on the fastbreak and 14 off of turnovers. Shooting 60 percent (21-of-35) from the field in the second half of play, the Railsplitters were near their average for the game at 53.4 percent (39-of-73) and buried 12 three pointers.
 
Held to 35.3 percent (12-of-34) first-half shooting, Mars Hill went 33-for-75 (44%) from the field in the midweek affair and was 8-for-24 (33.3%) from long range as both teams committed just eight turnovers. Assisting on 26 of its 39 made field goals, LMU held a plus-10 margin on the glass (45-35) and had four of five starters reach double-figure scoring.
 
His most impressive outing to date donning the Blue and Gray, Henry notched a career-high 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting with a career-best five steals. The 6-foot-6 swingman tied his career high with eight assists and pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds, going 9-for-10 on two-point field goal attempts and recording his second-straight double-double and fourth of the season.
 
The Railsplitters also got another strong showing from senior point guard Anthony Brown, who poured in 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting, collected eight rebounds and dished out five assists. Redshirt junior guard Devin Whitfield hit four treys and scored 20 points while tying his season high in rebounds with eight. Sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley went 7-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, and reached 18 points as redshirt senior forward Rhondi Hackett provided six points, seven boards and three assists in 21-and-a-half minutes.

A jumper in the paint by the Lions' Javonte Cooke gave the visitors their largest lead of the night at 9-5 just under five minutes in. Cooke then hit a three pointer after six minutes of action to give Mars Hill a 12-10 advantage, but from there LMU would take over and outscore the Lions 25-7 over the next 9:30 of play.
 
The Lions connected on an alley-oop dunk at the 10:14 mark of the half but would be held scoreless for the ensuing three minutes as the Railsplitters went on an 8-0 run to take a 13-point lead at 27-14. A driving layup by redshirt senior guard/forward Kamaran Calhoun gave LMU its largest lead of the half at 35-19 with just under four-and-a-half minutes to go before the break. However, Mars Hill went on a 13-5 run over the following three minutes and trimmed the lead to eight at 40-32 with 1:26 remaining in the half. A layup from Anthony Brown and a Henry dunk closed out the half and sent the Railsplitters into the locker room with a 12-point, 44-32 advantage.
 
LMU shot just 47.4 percent (18-of-38) in the opening half and was 6-for-17 (35.3%) from deep. Both Henry and McCauley had 10 points before the half, while Lion guard Austin Gilyard scored 15 first-half points.

The Railsplitters' lead hovered around 10 for the first five minutes of the second half before a Henry layup off of a Mars Hill turnover capped a 7-0 spurt in 36 seconds of play and gave LMU an 18-point lead at 58-40. After just over seven minutes of second-half action, the Railsplitters extended their lead to 20 for the first time of the night at 65-45 when Anthony Brown made another fastbreak layup.
 
A trey from Whitfield with 11:29 to go closed out a two-minute, 12-2 LMU run that gave the Railsplitters their largest lead of the game at 72-47. It didn't take the Lions very long to respond as they went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to get back within 16 at 72-56. A steal and a dunk by Henry with 7:26 to go made it a 21-point game at 82-61 and LMU maintained its sizable lead for the remainder of the night.
 
Mars Hill worked its way back to get within 16 at 89-73 with just under three minutes left when Lion guard Trey Belin sank a second-chance three pointer. A game-securing 9-2 Railsplitter run over the next minute and a half was highlighted by Henry's final steal and dunk of the night, making it a 23-point margin at 98-75 with 1:22 showing. Anthony Brown would get one more layup in the last minute in order for LMU to reach the 100-point mark as Mars Hill knocked down a pair of pullup jumpers prior to time expiring.
 
The Railsplitters scored 56 points in the second half, comparted to the Lions' 47, and connected on 42.9 percent (6-of-14) of their three-point attempts. Mars Hill shot 51.2 percent (21-of-41) over the final 20 minutes of play but went 2-for-10 from outside.
 
The Lions earned just six trips to the free-throw line in the 40 minutes of action while LMU was 10-for-15 (66.7%) at the foul line.
 
Cooke paced Mars Hill with 24 points on 11-for-18 shooting and Gilyard finished with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting, six rebounds and a team-high five assists. Lion forward Nassyr Daniel collected a team-best eight rebounds and scored nine points.
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters hit the road for a pair of games beginning with a trip to the Palmetto State this weekend to face Anderson before heading to nearby Greeneville, Tennessee, next Wednesday, Jan. 22 for a tilt at Tusculum. Tip-off from inside the Abney Athletic Center Saturday is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
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.