Gaffney, SC - The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team took to the road on Saturday looking to bounce back from an in-conference road loss to Wingate last weekend. The Railsplitters traveled to Gaffney, SC to take on the Limestone Saints. Lincoln Memorial took the prior seven contests and was looking to add another to the win column. During the game, two players joined the 1000-point club. Me'Kell Burries and Chase Rankin each scored their 1,000th point during the game, becoming the 35th and 36th players respectively all-time to score 1,000 points for Lincoln Memorial.

The game started with the teams trading buckets until the score found its way to a knot at 9-9. From there, the Railsplitters went on a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 lead.

During the run, Me'Kell Burries connected on a three pointer with 14:36 remaining in the first half. With the bucket, Burries scored the 1,000th point of his career, becoming the 35th Railsplitter all-time to join the 1,000-point club.

The Saints battled back to eventually tie the game at 20-20 with 11:11 left on the clock. Lincoln Memorial outscored Limestone 16-10 throughout the remainder of the half to take a 36-30 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Railsplitters shot well from inside the arc during the first half, connecting on 52% of their shots from the floor. However, with just two shots made on 13 attempts from deep in the first half, Limestone was able to hang around. Lincoln Memorial dominated the paint, out-rebounding Limestone 23-15 and outscoring the Saints in the paint by a whopping 26-10.

To start the second half, Chase Rankin showed range and flash, immediately connecting on a three pointer, followed by a no-look pass behind-the-back that would result in an inside bucket by Martez Brown, seeing the Railsplitters' lead grow to 11, 41-30. On the ensuing drive, Osmar Garcia-Araujo was able to score on the interior as Lincoln Memorial continued to dominate the interior. With the lead swelling, Limestone elected for a timeout with the Railsplitters leading 43-30. With a pair of takeaways and buckets to match, Limestone was able to cut back to within 10 points 44-34 by the under-16 media timeout. Following the media timeout, a pair of free throws from the Saints saw the lead cut to eight points, 44-36 with 15:45 remaining in the second half. A layup from Rankin and another three pointer from Burries saw the lead grow back to 13 points, 49-36. The ensuing possession saw the Saints drive for a quick bucket, which was answered by a three from Thomas Allard, giving the Railsplitters a 52-38 advantage. Following a pair of free throws from Limestone, a layup from Jordan Walters and a three pointer from Matthew Sells gave Lincoln Memorial its largest lead of the game to that point, 57-40 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game. Limestone went on a 13-7 run to cut the score back to within 11 points 64-53.

During the stretch, Chase Rankin connected on a jumper with 9:20 left in the game to score the 1,000th point of his career, becoming the 36th Railsplitter all-time to join the 1,000-point club.

With just under eight minutes remaining in the game, the Saints drew back to within striking distance, 66-57. The Railsplitters answered with four points, while limiting Limestone to only a pair of free throws to re-extend the lead back to double digits, 70-59, with under five minutes remaining. Lincoln Memorial went on to outscore Limestone 13 to 10 to secure the 83-69 win.

Chase Rankin and Me'Kell Burries led the Railsplitters in scoring, each scoring their 1,000th point of the game, with Rankin tallying 19 points for the contest, followed by Burries with 17. Rankin nearly tallied a double-double, adding eight rebounds and five assist. Martez Brown added another double-double on the season, dominating the paint with 16 points and 18 rebounds. He was followed by freshman Osmar Garcia-Araujo with 14 points. Jordan Walters added eight points, Matthew Sells chipped in six points, and Thomas Allard added three points to round out scoring for Lincoln Memorial.

With the victory, the Railsplitters improved to 7-3 on the season with a 2-1 mark in conference play. A three game home stretch awaits, beginning with No.14 North Georgia on Tuesday. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 pm.