Harrogate, TN - Following its second home win of the season against Winston-Salem State earlier this week, the Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team opened conference play with an emphatic victory at home over the Newberry Wolves, 89-50. The first seven minutes of the game appeared to foreshadow a tight game, however, the Railsplitters had a different idea.
Through the first seven minutes of action, neither team could separate from the other, with the score resting at 17-17. From there, Lincoln Memorial began to pour it on. The Railsplitters were shooting 57%, including a 57% mark from long range midway through the first half and began to separate. With Lincoln Memorial leading 33-23,
Luke Bartemes connected on three straight three pointers, giving the Railsplitters even more momentum. Lincoln Memorial outscored Newberry 29-13 for the remainder of the first half to take a sizable 46-30 lead into the halftime intermission.
Although the Railsplitters' offense was clicking, their defense also played a great game. With 12 minutes gone in the second half, Lincoln Memorial had only allowed 11 points since halftime, outscoring the Wolves 29-11 in the process to take a commanding 75-41 lead. From there, things got fun for the home crowd.
Khalid Gates came up with two big steals, and finished with two big dunks, including one that was good enough to likely make SportsCenter's Top-10 plays. Not to be outdone, teammate
Martez Brown came up with a steal on the very next play, and finished with an emphatic dunk that momentarily shorted the clock on top of the backboard out. Lincoln Memorial went into cruise control from there, coasting to an 89-50 victory, extending its home winning streak to 63 games, the longest streak in the nation.
Martez Brown and
Matthew Sells led all scorers, tallying 21 points apiece. Brown also hauled in 10 rebounds to record
another double-double. Sells shot the lights out of the rafters, connecting on 6-of-9 attempts from long range.
Luke Bartemes followed with 12 points, going
perfect from long range connecting on 4-of-4 attempts. It's also worth noting that he was called for a travel call on a separate three point shot attempt, which also went in.
Khalid Gates added eight points, electrifying the crowd with some amazing dunks.
Jay Boyd added seven points,
Chase Rankin added five points and eight assists,
Thomas Allard added five points,
Osmar Garcia-Araujo added four points, and
Me'Kell Burries and
Jordan Walters added three points each to round out scoring for Lincoln Memorial.
With the victory, the Railsplitters improved to 6-2 on the season. They will be back on the road at Wingate on Dec. 10 with tip-off slated for 4:00pm.
