HARROGATE, Tenn. – Overcoming a halftime deficit, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team tied the program's second-longest winning streak Wednesday night inside Shuford Memorial Gymnasium in Hickory, North Carolina, with a gritty 90-78 road victory at Lenoir-Rhyne. Scoring 54 second-half points on 59.4 percent (19-of-32) shooting and going 6-for-8 from beyond the arc in the second 20 minutes of play, the Railsplitters (22-1, 15-0) remained perfect in South Atlantic Conference play and in 2020.
 
Now at 22 games, LMU's nation-leading win streak is the longest since the Railsplitters rattled off 24-straight during their run to the national title game in 2015-16.
 
After a lackluster first-half performance, LMU refocused following the halftime break and went on a 6-0 run to start the second half. From there, the Railsplitters never trailed and led by as much as much as 13 down the stretch after falling behind by four in the first half.

Outrebounding the host Bears (11-9, 7-8) 43-34, LMU scored 18 fastbreak points, 38 points in the paint and got 12 points off of 11 Lenoir-Rhyne turnovers. Finishing the night 10-for-21 (47.6%) from outside, the Railsplitters shot 50 percent (33-of-66) overall from the field as the Bears went 45.5 percent (30-of-67) from the floor and only 30 percent (9-of-30) from three-point land.

With four double-figure scorers, LMU got double-double performances from redshirt junior guard Devin Whitfield and redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Henry as sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley poured in a game-high 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Notching his second double-double of his Railsplitter career and 11th 20-point game, Whitfield hauled in a season-high 13 rebounds and scored 25 on 8-for-14 shooting, including going 5-for-7 from long range and 4-for-5 at the foul line.
 
Henry posted his third-straight double-double and fifth in the last eight games with a career-best 17 boards and 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting, not to mention dishing out four assists. McCauley's 26-point night was his 12th 20-point outing of the season and second-straight, while redshirt senior forward Rhondi Hackett scored 11 and senior point guard Anthony Brown distributed a game-high five assists.
 
The Bears scored the first four points of the night and led 4-0 after two minutes of action, before a four-point play by Whitfield capped an 8-0 LMU run to give the Railsplitters an 8-4 lead a little under four minutes in. After remaining ahead by four at 15-11 a little over seven minutes into the game, LMU had its advantage erased over the following five-and-a-half minutes.
 
Connecting on just two field goals during the span, the Railsplitters were outscored 13-5 as Lenoir-Rhyne took a 24-20 lead with 7:30 to go in the half on a three pointer from Tyson McClain. Henry claimed a basket in the paint to finish off a 6-0 LMU spirt to give the Railsplitters back the lead at 26-24 and the two teams would go back-and-forth in the final few minutes of the opening half. A layup by McCauley at the 2:43 mark of the half gave LMU a three-point lead at 31-28 but the Railsplitters would trail for the majority of the half's last minute with a trey from the Bears' R.J. Gunn giving the home team a 37-34 edge. Hackett got a short jumper to go right before the half, making it a 37-36 affair heading into the locker room.
 
LMU shot just 41.2 percent (14-of-34) in the opening 20 minutes and was 4-for-13 (30.8%) from downtown, while Lenoir-Rhyne connected on 44.1 percent (15-of-34) of its first-half shots and went 5-for-16 (31.3%) from distance.
 
Four-straight points from McCauley, two steals and a fastbreak Hackett basket in the first two minutes of the second half gave the Railsplitters a 42-37 lead and set the tone for the final 20 minutes of action. A layup from Hackett put LMU ahead 49-44 about four-and-a-half minutes into the second half before the Railsplitters capped an 11-2 run with a McCauley layup giving the Blue and Gray a nine-point lead at 55-46 with 13:49 to go.
 
The Bears trimmed the deficit down to two with an impressive dunk by Zim Fields, but a Whitfield layup tamed the crowd and put LMU up 59-53. A three pointer from junior guard Alex Dahling finished off an 11-3 Railsplitter run with 9:39 remaining and gave LMU its first double-digit lead of the night at 66-56. An Anthony Brown trey made it an 11-point game at 69-58 and the Railsplitters would go up by 12 at 72-60 on a Whitfield three.
 
LMU led by no fewer than eight points for the final eight minutes of the game, matching every Lenoir-Rhyne bucket and having a response for every would-be momentum-shifting play. Another Whitfield three kept the Railsplitters in front by 12 at 77-65 with just over six minutes left and a pair of Anthony Brown free throws with just over a minute on the clock gave LMU its largest lead of the night at 86-73.
 
Sophomore guard Julius Brown made a pair of foul shots and Whitfield had a dunk in the final minute of play.
 
The Bears had five different players reach double-figure scoring paced by Gunn's double-double of a team-high 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting and 10 rebounds. Fields finished with 17 for Lenoir-Rhyne while Cooper Fowler had 13 points, seven boards and a team-best four assists and both Darius Simmons and McClain recorded 10 points.
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters return to the friendly confines of B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena Saturday for a 4 p.m. tilt with Wingate presented by Danny England Motors. Next Wednesday, Feb. 12, LMU heads one-and-a-half hours northeast to Wise, Virginia, for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at first-year SAC member UVA Wise.
 
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.