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The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team returns to South Atlantic Conference play to host Limestone at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in Tex Turner Arena. The Railsplitters have won the previous five meetings with the Saints and are 10-5 overall including 7-0 in Harrogate in the series.
 
Lincoln Memorial (10-1, 3-0 SAC) ran away from Tennessee Wesleyan Wednesday night for a 120-66 win, scoring the team's most points in a game this season. Limestone enters the game with a 3-6 record (1-2 SAC), having lost to common opponents North Georgia (77-56) on Nov. 11, Georgia College (67-63) on Nov. 12 and USC Aiken (86-62) on Nov. 23 while winning 102-98 in overtime at Emory & Henry on Dec. 3.
 
Lincoln Memorial comes in at No. 8 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the D2SIDA Poll released on Dec. 13, which are the highest rankings for teams with a loss.
 
RAILSPLITTER STRIKES

• Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in assists per game (20.2, fifth in Division II), field goal percentage (53.4, second), rebounding margin (+10.9, fifth), scoring margin (+20.7, seventh) and scoring offense (91.3 points per game, sixth) so far this season.
• Chase Rankin ranks second in the conference and fifth in Division II in total assists at 67, while his 6.1 assists per game rank ninth nationally. The graduate guard's 2.48 assist-to-turnover ratio is fourth in the SAC.
• Martez Brown's 97 total rebounds leads the league and ranks No. 14 in the country.
• Matthew Sells has made 33 3-pointers this season, good for third in the conference and 12^th in Division II. The sophomore guard's 47.1 percent shooting from distance is also third in the conference while ranking No. 23 nationally.
• Along with being ranked No. 6 in the NABC Preseason Poll, the Railsplitters were picked to win the SAC with 143 points including 11 first place votes.
• Redshirt sophomore guard Me'Kell Burries, senior forward Jordan Guest and Rankin were all selected to the preseason All-SAC First Team.

SCOUTING LIMESTONE: The Saints won at Emory & Henry before dropping league games vs Carson-Newman (74-56) on Dec. 7 and at UVA Wise (94-86, OT) on Dec. 15. Their +4.3 turnover margin is second in the SAC and No. 28 in the nation, while their 8.0 3-pointers made per game are fifth-most in the league.
 
Sophomore guard Isayah Owens plays more than anyone else in the conference, averaging 33 minutes and 48 seconds a game of court time. Senior forward Richard Nunez's 15 blocks are third-most in the league.
 
SAC Men's Basketball Standings (as of Dec. 16)
 
Mountain Division                Overall           Conference
Lincoln Memorial                  10-1                 3-0
Carson-Newman                     8-2                   3-0
Tusculum                                5-2                   2-2
Emory & Henry                       7-3                   1-2
UVA Wise                               7-3                   1-2
Limestone                               3-6                   1-2
Mars Hill                                 2-6                   0-3
 
Piedmont Division                Overall           Conference
Wingate                                   6-3                   3-0
Catawba                                  6-4                   2-1
Lenoir-Rhyne                          5-3                   1-1
Newberry                                7-4                   1-2
Coker                                      6-5                   1-2
Anderson                                2-9                   0-2
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters host Erskine on Monday at 4 p.m. in their final game before Christmas.