Lenoir-Rhyne Ends Railsplitter Basketball Season

HICKORY, NC – In another of high scoring affair that seems to have become a late season trend for the LMU men’s basketball team, the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne College eliminated the Railsplitters with a 101-90 win over Lincoln Memorial in the Quarterfinals of the South Atlantic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday night in Hickory.

The Railsplitters see-sawed back and forth with the Bears throughout the first half but Lenoir-Rhyne’s Eric Mauldin gave dropped a three pointer just before time expired at the end of the first twenty minutes of play to give the Bears a four point cushion going into the locker room.  The basketball proved give Lenoir-Rhyne the momentum they would need to pull away from Lincoln Memorial at the beginning of the second half, as they Bears extended their lead to 15 points on two different occasions in the second half before finally coming away with a 101-90 win over LMU.

Despite the loss, Lincoln Memorial put up good numbers everywhere except the free throw line in Wednesday night’s loss.  The Railsplitters hit 57.6% of their shots from the floor and 60.9% of their shots from three point range but hit a dismal 36.4% of their shots from the line on the evening.

Junior Chris Williams (Fort Washington, MD) came off the bench to lead LMU in scoring with 25 points while senior David Lopez (Tucson, AZ) added 22, including 7-10 three pointers.  Also in double figures for the Railsplitters were freshman Beau Brown (Athens, TN) who had 16 points and junior Dominique Petty (Metropolis, IN) who hit 4-4 three pointers and one free throw to finish the game with 13 points.

Lenoir-Rhyne seemed almost mechanical at times, hitting 74.5% from the floor, including 75% behind the three point line and turning in a near flawless performance at the line by hitting 89.3%. 

The Railsplitters end the year with a 13-15 record and lose seniors Kai Wells (Memphis, TN), Artavius Mitchell (Chicago, IL) and David Lopez (Tucson, AZ) to graduation.  Head Coach Hugh Watson will now hit the recruiting trail in search of the missing pieces of the 2007-08 Railsplitter squad.