Railsplitter Second Half Comeback Falls Short

HARROGATE, TN – Playing the #13 ranked team in Division II NCAA men’s basketball, the Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters went to the locker room down 17 at the half and then came out in the final 20 minutes of play to cut the deficit to only two before falling Monday evening 77-62 at the hands of the University of Alabama-Huntsville. (Box score)

It was a game where the Chargers did everything right and LMU did everything wrong, that is until midway through the second half when the Railsplitters put together a run that set the Chargers back on their heels long enough to make it a single possession game.  “That’s been our problem most of the season, putting 40 minutes together and tonight we didn’t get it done,” said Railsplitter Head Coach Hugh Watson in his post game commentary.

Other contributing factors to the LMU loss were poor free throw shooting and the zone defense that Alabama-Huntsville played for nearly the entire 40 minutes of the contest.  The Railsplitters hit just eight of twenty-one three pointers on the night for 38.8% behind the arc and were playing without their leading three point shooter Johnny Martin who was serving a single game suspension for team rules violations.

After starting the conference schedule with new enthusiasm less then four weeks ago, three consecutive losses to conference opponents have put the LMU men at 3-3 in league play heading into their road meeting this Saturday in Carrollton, Georgia with West Georgia. 

The Braves traveled to Florence, Alabama earlier this week and knocked off North Alabama 107-99 to move into a tie with LMU and North Alabama for third place in the division and will be looking to move up again when they host the Railsplitters in their first meeting of the year

Saturday night’s game will also mark the midway point of the 2005-06 conference schedule for the LMU men and could set the tone for the remainder of the season.  Tip-off with the Braves is set for 7:30 p.m. following the Lady Railsplitters' game with the West Georgia women.