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The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team is set for another rematch, this time in the NCAA Tournament Southeast Regional Championship game against No. 4 seed USC Aiken in Christenberry Fieldhouse on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Railsplitters are coming off an 84-74 triumph over No. 7 seed North Georgia on Sunday in the Regional Semifinal after they had earlier defeated the Nighthawks 87-86 in Dahlonega on Nov. 19.
 
The Railsplitters (29-4) and Pacers (24-8) squared off back on Nov. 12 in Greeneville, Tenn., when Lincoln Memorial prevailed 90-69 in the South Atlantic Conference / Peach Belt Conference Challenge hosted by Tusculum. Graduate guard Quay Kennedy went for a game-high 21 points and team-best seven rebounds as the Railsplitters rolled after taking a 45-25 lead into halftime.
 
Lincoln Memorial leads USC Aiken 3-1 in the series history, including 2-0 at neutral sites, with all four games coming in the last five years between the familiar nonconference opponents.
 
In the Regional Semifinal win over the Nighthawks, the Railsplitters again pulled away late after holding a 42-38 lead at the break. The trio of Jordan Guest (19 points), Quay Kennedy (18) and Jordan Walters (17) provided the bulk of the scoring for a Lincoln Memorial offense that shot 55.4 percent (31-56) from the field. North Georgia was limited to 36.7 percent shooting in the second half.
 
USC Aiken is led by junior guard Tehree Horn and his 16.2 points, 6.3 assists and 2.0 assists per game. Sophomore guard Tyler Johnson averages 13.7 points and 5.3 rebounds, and fellow sophomore guard Jalen McCoy contributes 12.7 points and 4.4 boards a game. Freshman forward Karon Boyd rounds out the Pacers scoring in double figures at 11.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
 
Lincoln Memorial was ranked No. 11 in the D2SIDA poll released Wednesday and No. 12 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll from Tuesday.
 
RAILSPLITTER STRIKES (through games played March 12)

• Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in assists per game (19.5, fourth in Division II), field goal percentage (52.2, second), rebounding margin (+8.8, fifth), scoring margin (+17.1, fourth) and scoring offense (87.9 points per game, eighth).
• Rankin stands at first in Division II in both total assists (239) and assists per game (7.2). The graduate guard's 3.23 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the SAC and ranks ninth nationally.
• Martez Brown's 298 total rebounds leads the league and ranks No. 8 in the country.
• Matthew Sells has made 75 3-pointers this season, good for fourth in the conference.
• Rankin earned the SAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week honor on Jan. 16, while redshirt sophomore guard Me'Kell Burries won it on Jan. 9 and Feb. 28. Kennedy earned the honor on Feb. 6.
• Rankin and Kennedy were voted First Team All-SAC, while Burries landed on the Third Team in the vote of the league's coaches as announced last week by the conference office.
• Rankin advanced to being named to the Top 50 Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award on Feb. 15, which is given to the player who had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. The point guard was also voted Second Team All-Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association.
• Jordan Walters won the Elite 23 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete in the SAC with the highest GPA in his sport.

SCOUTING USC AIKEN: The Pacers tied for first in the Peach Belt regular season standings (14-4) with Augusta before falling to No. 4 seed Lander 93-81 in the semifinals of their conference tournament. USC Aiken got by No. 5 seed and SAC Tournament champion Catawba 88-79 on Saturday before handling No. 1 seed and host Augusta 84-77 on Sunday night.
 
The Pacers are 9-4 at home, 13-2 on the road and 2-2 at neutral sites. In addition to Catawba and Lincoln Memorial, USC Aiken has faced SAC teams Tusculum on Nov. 11 (L 94-85), Anderson on Nov. 16 (W 83-61), Limestone on Nov. 23 (W 86-62) and Coker on Nov. 30 (W 72-47). The Pacers are 6-1 against nationally ranked teams, having beat Augusta three times and won their last six such games. Aiken's only ranked loss was to the No. 6 Railsplitters back in November.
 
USC Aiken is tough on the glass, leading the Peach Belt and ranking tenth in Division II at a +7.8 rebounding margin. The Pacers' +7.1 scoring margin is third in the league and No. 48 nationally.
 
Johnson leads the PBC and is 21^st nationally with 61 total steals, while Horn's 86.5 percent shooting from the foul line also leads the league.
 
NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Schedule
 
Quarterfinals (Saturday, March 11)
Game 1: No. 3 Lincoln Memorial def. No. 6 Lander, 76-63
Game 2: No. 7 North Georgia def. No. 2 UNC Pembroke, 76-58
Game 3: No. 1 Augusta def. No. 8 Emmanuel, 83-74
Game 4: No. 4 USC Aiken def. No. 5 Catawba, 88-79
 
Semifinals (Sunday, March 12)
Game 5: No. 3 Lincoln Memorial def. No. 7 North Georgia 84-74
Game 6: No. 4 USC Aiken def. No. 1 Augusta 84-77
 
Final (Tuesday, March 14)
Game 7: No. 3 Lincoln Memorial vs No. 4 USC Aiken
 
Up Next
The winner of this game will advance to the Elite 8 to be played on Tuesday, March 21 in Evansville, Ind.