Rock Hill, SC - The 2025 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Championship is set. The top-seeded and 8th-ranked Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters will meet the 2nd-seeded and 14th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne Bears for the tournament title on Friday. It will mark the third time this season the teams have met, splitting the regular season with each winning its home game. Lincoln Memorial and Lenoir-Rhyne have both been ranked in the top 25 nationally throughout the season. Both teams feature some of the conference's best players.

Lincoln Memorial's Wes Enis was named conference Player of the Year as well as Defensive Player of the Year. Freshman Elyjah Freeman was named Freshman of the Year. Point guard EJ Smith was also named All-Freshman. Enis and Freeman were named to the All-SAC First Team as well. Lenoir-Rhyne's Zaire Wells was named Newcomer of the Year as well as to the All-SAC First Team. Hantz Louis-Jeune and Conrad Luczynski were named to the All-SAC Second and Third Teams respectively. The Railsplitters enter the championship game with an overall record of 25-4, including a 21-3 mark in conference play. The Bears have amassed a 25-5 overall record on the season with a 20-4 mark in conference play. Both teams are riding five game winning streaks ahead of the championship game.

The teams met in early January with Lenoir-Rhyne taking a narrow 79-77 decision on a bucket in the closing seconds. Things looked much different when the Bears came to Tex Turner Arena. Lincoln Memorial cruised to an 87-59 victory at home, creating enough separation between the two in conference standings for the Railsplitters to close the season strong, claiming the regular season title for the sixth consecutive season. Lincoln Memorial limited Lenoir-Rhyne to just one player in double-figures in the last match up. Inversely, the Railsplitter offense was humming, with four players scoring more than 15 points. Freeman led the charge with 21 points. EJ Smith posted a season and career-high 19 points, while dishing out seven assists. Thomas Allard added 17 points and nine rebounds and Wes Enis added 16 points. Lincoln Memorial dominated the paint 40-28 in the previous match up.

Enis, who averages 20.2 points-per-game and 4.5 rebounds-per-game, leads Lincoln Memorial in scoring. He is the second leading scorer in the conference. He is followed in scoring by Freeman with 18 points-per-game and 8.6 rebounds-per-game. He is the highest scoring and rebounding freshman in the conference. All-Freshman selection EJ Smith averages 8.8 points-per-game. Jordan Walters is on the cusp of double figures, averaging 9.4 points-per-game to go along with 6.1 rebounds and a team-leading 3.2 assists-per-game.

In the quarterfinal against Wingate, Lincoln Memorial took care of business, taking an 85-67 victory. All five starters scored in double figures for the Railsplitters. Enis led all scorers with 26 points. He was followed by Walters, who nearly tallied a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. Freeman turned in a solid 16 point performance. Allard and Jordan each added 10 points in the winning effort. The Lincoln Memorial defense forced Wingate into 20 turnovers, which in turn led to 32 points. The semifinal game against Carson-Newman was a slugfest. With 23 lead changes and 15 ties, the game was back-and-forth for the most part. The Eagles led the majority of the game, but in the end, the Railsplitters found a way to prevail. Freeman erupted for 32 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. In three games against Carson-Newman, Freeman scored 87 points and hauled in 39 rebounds. Allard added 11 points in the semifinal and Jordan added 10, leaving three players in double figures in the semifinal game.

Tip-off between the Railsplitters and Bears is slated for 4:00 PM on Friday in Rock Hill, SC.

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