MORROW, Ga. – Many firsts were had in the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball season opener as the Jeremiah Samarrippas era will start off with a win as the Railsplitters used a dominant second half to take an 89-71 victory on day one of the PBC/SAC Challenge.
 
"The credit for this first win goes to our players and staff, our preparation this week won us this game," said head coach Jeremiah Samarrippas. "I was also pleased to see us handle adversity late in the second half. When you have a young team, you need to handle adversity early in the season in order to grow. "
 
After producing 46 first-half points, LMU took a nine-point lead into halftime and did not look back after the pause. LMU connected on five of their 13 first-half threes (38.5 percent), and repeated that line after the break. Overall, from the field, the Railsplitters knocked down 34 shots in 62 attempts (54.8 percent).
 
Assisting on 17 of their 34 made field goals, the Railsplitters moved to 4-0 against Clayton State all-time with LMU winning by an average of 24.7 points. Lincoln Memorial also dominated the glass as they grabbed 46 rebounds compared to just 30 by the Lakers.
 
The Lakers were able to get up and down quicker as they tallied 13 points off fast breaks and notched 12 assists. Lincoln Memorial kept their high offense going with bench play as 23 points were scored from players coming off the bench and notched nine second-chance points.
 
Withstanding a 16-9 deficit to open the game, the Railsplitters bounced back to take the lead, 25-21. An explosive 12-point run helped give LMU a 37-26 lead with five minutes remaining in the half. The Railsplitter defense allowed the Lakers to accumulate just four more field goals in the half over the last 3:06 of the half.
 
Both programs came out of the gates in the second shooting lights out. The Railsplitters went six-for-six from the floor to begin the half with Chase Rankin getting to the line as he knocked down a pair of free throws. Taking a 64-59 lead into the 12-minute media of thee second half, LMU looked to get something going offensively and they got it as over the next six minutes with a 13-8 run to increase the Splitter lead.
 
The Railsplitters maintained the lead and pushed their lead to 18 as the final whistle came to a sound with Lincoln Memorial capturing the win over Clayton State, 89-71 on Friday night.
 
Five different Railsplitters tallied double-digit scoring figures with redshirt freshman Me'Kell Burries leading the way with 18 points on the night while going 6-of-12 from the field. Burries also added three rebounds and two assists to his line in the win. Jordan Guest (17 points), Chase Rankin (15), Alex Dahling (13) and Matthew Sells (13) were the four Splitters that also tacked on double-digit scoring.
 
Rankin recorded his first double-double of the season as he tagged on 10 rebounds in addition to his 15 points. The redshirt sophomore from Columbus, Ohio nearly tallied a triple-double has he assisted seven times in the contest.
 
Jalen Shaw led the Pacers in the contest as he tallied 25 points, two rebounds and two assists. The other lone double-digit scoring figure for Clayton State came from Ricardo Lynch who added 24 points.
 
Multiple student-athletes made their first appearance for the Railsplitters as Sells, along with junior Martez Brown and freshman Diego Platas all made their debuts in the Blue and Gray.
 
"At LMU we get everyone's best shot every game and as we begin to understand that we'll get better as a team," said coach Samarrippas. "We'll definitely have to be better tomorrow against a very talented USC Aiken team"
 
Up Next
 
The Railsplitters will spend the night in Georgia as they are set to close out the 2021 PBC/SAC Challenge against USC Aiken in the gym of Clayton State. Tip off is slated for 2:00 p.m. EST.
 
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 2021-22 season.