LMU Basketball Teams Stumble Again Against Tusculum

HARROGATE, TN – The Lincoln Memorial University men’s and women’s basketball teams suffered yet another setback Saturday evening when Tusculum College came to town and knocked off both the LMU men and women in the first meeting between the two schools of the 2005-06 season.

In the opening game of the night, the Lady Pioneers of Tusculum controlled the temp all evening and came away with a convincing 71-59 win over Lincoln Memorial to again drop the Lady Railsplitters below the .500 mark at 3-4.

Tusculum’s Ashli Oliver led all scorers with 21 points on six of nine shooting beyond the perimeter and teammate Chassity Martin also hit double figures, scoring 14 points. The Tusculum women knocked down twelve of twenty-four shots outside the three-point line, which turned out to be the fatal blow.

The LMU women were held to a mere 33.9% shooting from the floor, only 18.2% from three-point range and shot a dismal 58.6% from the free throw line en route to the loss. Junior Madeline Richards (Floyds Knobs, IN) and senior Chasity Williams (Evansville, IN) were the only two LMU players to score double figures. Richards finished the night with 14 points, while Williams had 10.

In the men’s game, the Railsplitters were faced with nearly a carbon-copy of last Tuesday’s game with Benedict College in which they hit a last second three to capture their first win of the year. This time however, the Railsplitters efforts fell short and LMU lost its fifth game of the season 61-59 to the Pioneer men.

Jordan Lear led the way for TC with 21 points, while teammates Matt Farus and Chris Poore each added 12. LMU was paced by sophomore Johnny Martin (Detroit, MI). Martin tied for top scoring honors on the night with Lear by scoring 21 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Also in double figures for the Railsplitters were senior Stevie Akridge (Grand Rapids, MI) and junior Artavius Mitchell (Chicago, IL) with 13 and 10 points respectively.

Both the LMU men and women will have to wait until next Saturday night to get the taste of last the losses to Tusculum out of their mouths as neither will play again until traveling to Jefferson City, Tennessee to take on non-conference arch rival Carson-Newman College for the final time this season. Tip-off for the women is set for 6:00 p.m. next Saturday while the men will get underway at 8:00 o’clock.

-LMU-

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Men's Head Coach: Hugh Watson
Phone: (423) 869-6240