GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – For the first time in nearly two full years, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team has suffered back-to-back defeats after Tusculum University handed the Railsplitters their second-straight setback Wednesday night inside Pioneer Arena. Closing out the regular season on a strenuous four-game road trip, LMU was unable to match the physicality of the host Pioneers (10-4, 10-4 SAC) and dropped a 90-74 South Atlantic Conference decision in Greeneville, Tennessee.
 
The Railsplitters, who fell to 5-3 away from home in 2020-21, were hampered by costly turnovers and poor defensive rebounding.
 
Despite the loss, LMU remains atop the 13-team conference with a 14-3 league record and 16-3 overall mark and still has a chance to capture its ninth SAC regular season championship since 2011 and eighth in the last nine seasons this weekend.
 
Committing 19 turnovers and allowing Tusculum to claim 14 offensive boards, the Railsplitters were outscored 38-34 in the paint and trailed from the 6:15 mark of the first half onward. The Pioneers imposed their will by nabbing 15 steals, scoring 30 points off turnovers and getting 17 second-chance points.
 
"All of us as players and coaches have to do our jobs much better and we need to play with more passion, spirit, joy and togetherness on the floor," commented head coach Josh Schertz after the game. "In basketball, you find your rhythm inside of a game by making the next right play and playing as hard as you possibly can. When you're in the game you have a job to do that possession and you need to do it, and if you do it over and over again you have a good team. We are not doing that right now, well-coached teams get there but we are not a well-coached team right now. I think that's pretty obvious."
 
"We will review it, own it and work to get better as the road for us doesn't get any easier from here," remarked coach Schertz.
 
Despite both teams shooting around 45 percent for the game, LMU could not find its stroke from outside and went 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from deep for the night, including going just 2-for-11 in the second half. The Railsplitters also struggled at the free-throw line, making only 60.7 percent (17-of-28) of their foul shots and going 11-for-20 (55 percent) at the charity stripe across the final 20 minutes.
 
Tusculum hit 37 percent of its three-point attempts (10-of-27) and was 6-for-15 (40 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half. Leading by as much as 20 down the stretch, the Pioneers shot 45.8 percent (33-of-72) from the field and limited LMU to 44.6 percent (25-of-56) shooting.
 
Knotted up at seven after the first four minutes of play, tied at nine five minutes in and once again even at 12-all through six minutes of action, back-to-back three pointers by junior forward Jordan Guest put the Railsplitters in front 15-14. An 8-0 run capped by a three from redshirt junior guard Cameron Henry, who became the 31st 1,000-point scorer in LMU men's basketball history with his make, gave the Blue and Gray a 23-16 lead eight-and-a-half minutes in. Redshirt senior guard Devin Whitfield extended the Railsplitters' advantage to eight at 29-21 with layup just under eight minutes to go in the half. However, it would be LMU's largest lead of the night.
 
The Railsplitters were outscored 30-14 across the last 7:33 of the half as Tusculum reversed LMU's eight-point lead with a ferocious 20-4 run over a four-and-a-half minute stretch, pushing in front 41-33 with 3:14 left before the break. The deficit would grow to 11 before halftime when the Pioneers' Justin Mitchell made a steal and flushed a dunk with 38 seconds remaining in the period.
 
Owning a 10-point, 53-43 lead at the half, Tusculum was able to overcome 53.3 percent (16-of-30) first-half Railsplitter shooting while hitting 50 percent (19-of-38) of its shots from the floor and getting 16 points from James West IV.
 
A three pointer by Whitfield early in the second half got LMU back within seven a minute in but it would be as close as the Railsplitters would get for the rest of the contest. A conventional three-point play from redshirt sophomore guard Xavier Bledson kept LMU within striking distance at 57-49 after just over two-and-a-half minutes of second-half play. At the 13:59 mark Guest made a layup to trim the Pioneers' lead down to nine at 62-53, but the Railsplitters trailed by double digits from the 13:12 mark forward. Down by 16 with only four minutes to go, LMU went deep into its bench.
 
The Railsplitters shot just 34.6 percent (9-of-26) in the second half as Tusculum was 41.2 percent (14-of-34) from the field.
 
Whitfield led the way for LMU with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting, while Bledson finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Guest recorded 12 points and seven boards and Henry claimed nine points and three assists.
 
The Pioneers' Trenton Gibson and West IV each scored a game-high 22 points with Gibson dishing out eight assists and grabbing seven rebounds. West IV pulled down nine rebounds and Tusculum also got double-figure scoring from Inady Legiste (13) and Justin Mitchell (12).
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters close out the regular season and wrap up their four-game road swing with Queens and Carson-Newman. LMU heads to Charlotte to face the 19th-ranked Royals Saturday at 2 p.m. before traveling to Jefferson City, Tennessee, next Wednesday, Feb. 24 for an 8 p.m. showdown at Carson-Newman.
 
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 2020-21 season.