HARROGATE, Tenn. – Beginning the second half of South Atlantic Conference play, there was no slowing down the third-ranked Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team Saturday inside Tex Turner Arena. The Railsplitters (19-1, 12-0) did nothing but extend the nation's longest winning streak with their 19th consecutive victory, an 86-60 home rout of visiting Coker University.
Connecting on 14 three-pointers and getting a career-high 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting from redshirt sophomore guard
Cameron Henry, LMU never trailed and led by as much as 30 in the second half. Going 14-of-29 from distance (48.3%) and shooting 47.8 percent (32-of-67) overall from the field, the Railsplitters limited the visiting Cobras (5-11, 4-8) to just 33.3 percent (24-of-72) from the floor and a dismal 1-for-23 (4.3%) from long range.
Claiming its 12th-straight conference win, which also leads the country, LMU made it 14 in a row versus Coker and notched its 13th 20-point triumph of 2019-20.
Henry becomes the third Railsplitter to turn in a 30-point performance this season, joining sophomore guard
Courvoisier McCauley (Nov. 9 and Dec. 18) and redshirt junior guard
Devin Whitfield (Nov. 23 and Jan. 4). The 6-foot-6 swingman hit five of his eight three-point attempts, grabbed eight rebounds, went 3-for-3 at the free-throw line, handed out three assists and had both a block and a steal.
Committing just nine turnovers in the game, including only three in the second half, LMU scored 13 points off of nine Cobra miscues and got 20 points off its bench. Despite being outscored 38-36 down low and Coker holding a narrow 43-42 edge on the glass, the Railsplitters scored 20 of their 86 points on a fast break.
LMU scored the first 13 points of the day, getting treys from Henry, Whitfield and McCauley in the first four minutes of action. Three-pointers by junior guard
Alex Dahling and Henry put the Railsplitters ahead 23-10 after nine-and-a-half minutes of play as LMU went 8-for-13 from deep to begin the game, extending its lead to 16 at 32-16 after back-to-back three-pointers from Henry.
An 11-0 Railsplitter run capped by a jumper from sophomore guard
Julius Brown put the home team up 24 (40-16) with just under four minutes to go before the break. The Cobras chiseled at the deficit in the last three-and-a-half minutes of the half but LMU took a 17-point, 42-25 advantage into the locker room after 44.1 percent (15-of-34) first-half shooting and nine three-pointers.
The Railsplitters limited Coker to just 11 first-half field goals and 29.7 percent (11-of-37) shooting as the Cobras went 0-for-11 from three-point distance. Henry had 17 points and four rebounds at the break.
The start of the second half proved to be sluggish for both teams with only two combined baskets in the opening two-and-a-half minutes. A three-pointer by Whitfield pushed LMU's lead back out to 20 at 47-27 before Coker trimmed it down to 15 with an 8-3 run. After nearly seven minutes of second-half action, Whitfield found the bottom of the net once more from three-point distance to give the Railsplitters a 21-point advantage at 58-37.
Henry scored on a fastbreak jumper with nine-and-a-half minutes to go, pushing LMU in front by a comfortable margin of 23 points at 64-41 before the Railsplitters built their largest lead of the contest. A 10-0 LMU run over a three-minute stretch of play gave the Blue and Gray a sizeable 31-point lead at 76-45 with four-and-a-half minutes remaining as Henry finished off an old-fashioned three-point play.
Head coach
Josh Schertz would empty his bench for the final 4:30, giving redshirt senior guard
Myles Smith, redshirt junior
Shaquille Rombley,
Julius Brown, freshman guard
Jeremiah Keene and redshirt freshman guard
MJ Armstrong valuable minutes late. The squad maintained a 25-point lead until the final buzzer with an emphatic alley-oop from Keene to Rombley in the final minutes putting an exclamation point to the game.
The Railsplitters shot 51.5 percent (17-of-33) in the second half and went 5-for-9 (55.6%) from outside with Henry and Whitfield combining for 25 points. The Cobras were held to 37.1 percent (13-of-35) second-half shooting and went 1-for-12 (8.3%) from beyond the arc but made eight of their nine free throws to finish the contest 11-for-12 (91.7%) at the foul line.
Whitfield finished with 18 points and five rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting and 4-for-7 marksmanship from outside, while redshirt senior forward
Rhondi Hackett pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds and scored nine. Dahling sank two of his three three-point attempts and senior point guard
Anthony Brown collected six boards and dished out five assists.
Coker had four double-figure scorers with Malcom Kennedy, Chandler Lindsey and KJ Harris each recording 12 points while Dakota Jennings provided 11. The Cobras got 10 rebounds from Royce Hunter and another seven from Jennings.
Up Next…
The Railsplitters welcome rival Carson-Newman to Tex Turner Arena next Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. SAC matchup presented by Coca-Cola. LMU will then hit the road for a pair of games at nationally-ranked Queens next Saturday, Feb. 1 and at Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday, Feb. 5.
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.
