Box Score Harrogate, Tenn. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Men’s Basketball Team (21-10) saw its season come to a close with a 103-80 setback to top-ranked Lincoln Memorial (32-2) Tuesday evening at Tex Turner Arena in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship.
The Railsplitters’ Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored a game-high 27 points while Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) added 24 points and hit 10-of-11 field goals as Lincoln Memorial advanced to the 2016 NCAA Division II Elite Eight, which takes place at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, beginning on Wednesday, March 23.
Lenoir-Rhyne, the seventh-seeded team in this year’s regional tournament, was led by South Atlantic Conference and Southeast Region Player Of The Year Keenan Palmore (Stone Mountain, Ga.). Palmore, a senior guard, finished with a team-high 23 points and nine rebounds in the losing effort.
The Railsplitters jumped out to a 24-7 advantage just under six minutes into the contest and never looked back. Lenoir-Rhyne tried to rally but couldn’t get within double digits the rest of the way.
Lincoln Memorial, winners of 22 straight contests, was the top seed in the region for the second straight year and is making its first-ever trip to the national quarterfinals.
Five players scored in double figures for the Bears including junior guard Darrion Evans (Morganton, N.C.), who came off the bench to score 16 points while senior guard Will Perry (Wake Forest, N.C.) added 13 points in the losing effort.
The Railsplitters shot 53 percent (32-of-60) for the game in beating the Bears for the 13th consecutive time. Lenoir-Rhyne hit 11 treys and finished the year with a league-record 384 three-pointers. The Bears advanced to the NCAA Division II Regional Finals for the first time in school history and won 20 games in a season for the first time in eight years.
Box Score