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The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team will travel to Emory & Henry for the first time in 45 years and play the Wasps for the first time as South Atlantic Conference foes on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the King Center.
 
The Railsplitters (8-1, 2-0 SAC) took down Tusculum 72-67 on Saturday to come in at No. 1 in the D2SIDA Southeast Region rankings riding a seven-game winning streak. The Wasps enter the weekend at 6-2 (0-1 SAC), having lost to Limestone 102-98 in overtime last Saturday.
 
Lincoln Memorial comes in at No. 10 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the D2SIDA Poll released on Nov. 29, which are the highest rankings for teams with a loss.

RAILSPLITTER STRIKES

• Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in average assists (19.6) and defensive rebounds (32.9) per game and field goal percentage (51.9) so far this season. Across NCAA Division II nationally, the team's defensive rebounds average leads the country and its field goal percentage and assists per game rank seventh through Dec. 6.
• Chase Rankin leads the conference and ranks fifth in Division II in total assists (57). The graduate guard also paces in the conference in assists per game at 6.3, which is good for sixth nationally.
• Martez Brown's 77 total rebounds leads the league and ranks No. 26 in the country.
• 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 EMORY & HENRY: The Wasps have lost exhibition games at UNC Wilmington (88-47) and East Tennessee State (88-66) in addition to their two regular season losses to Malone (68-66) and Limestone. Emory & Henry leads the league in scoring offense at 92.4 points per game while its field goal percentage (51.0) ranks second behind only Lincoln Memorial.
 
Sophomore Gabe Brown's 16.1 points per game is good for fifth in the SAC, while junior guard Patrick Antonelli ranks sixth in the league in assists per game (3.9).
 
SAC Men's Basketball Standings (as of Dec. 8)
 
Mountain Division                Overall           Conference
Lincoln Memorial                  8-1                   2-0
Carson-Newman                     6-2                   1-0
Tusculum                                4-1                   1-1
Limestone                               3-5                   1-1
Emory & Henry                       6-2                   0-1
UVA Wise                               6-2                   0-1
Mars Hill                                 2-4                   0-1
 
Piedmont Division                Overall           Conference
Newberry                                 7-2                   1-0
Catawba                                  5-3                   1-0
Wingate                                   4-3                   1-0
Coker                                      5-4                   0-1
Lenoir-Rhyne                          4-3                   0-1
Anderson                                 2-7                   0-1
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters host Tennessee Wesleyan on Wednesday at 7 p.m.