HICKORY, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball Team halted No. 2 Lincoln Memorial's 39-game winning streak and handed the Railsplitters an 89-83 defeat inside Shuford Gymnasium on Saturday evening . The win over LMU was the highest-ranked team LR had ever beaten and just the second win over the Railsplitters since 2010.

GAME INFORMATION:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 89, Lincoln Memorial 83
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (3-1, 3-1 SAC) | Lincoln Memorial (7-1, 5-1 SAC)
Location: Shuford Gymnasium | John Lentz Court

STATS AND INFO:
- The Bears have 12 wins over nationally-ranked opponents since 1989 and Everick Sullivan has engineered five of those victories including tonight's win over LMU
- The Bears handed LMU its first loss since Nov. 1, 2019, and have given the Railsplitters two of their past four losses dating back to the end of the 2018-19 season
- The Bears hit 25-of-26 from the free throw line tonight and went 20-for-20 from the charity stripe in the second half. Darius Simmons went a perfect 12-for-12 on the night 
- Simmons finished with 23 points and now sits just five points shy of 1,000 for his career
- R.J. Gunn went off for 20 points and is just 25 points shy of 1,000 for his career

FIRST HALF:
- It was all Lenoir-Rhyne in the first 20 minutes tonight as the Bears exploded out of the gate and built a 45-29 advantage going into the break
- LR shot 47.2 percent from the field and hit on 6-of-15 from long range to build up a double-digit lead
- LMU went frigid in the first half. Despite entering the game shooting over 55 percent as a team, the Railsplitters went just 8-27 (29.6 %) from the field and hit just 3-15 (20 %) from distance
- The Bears held Devin Whitfield to just four first-half points as the standout came in averaging 21 points per game

SECOND HALF:
- As was expected, LMU came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and hit seven of their first 10 from three-point range
- The 16 point halftime deficit was cut to one with 11:24 to play as the reigning conference champs wouldn't go away without a fight
- For the first time in 22 minutes of game action. LMU took the lead at 71-70 with 5:03 to play but the Bears came roaring back
- Mason Hawks would answer with a smooth step-back 3-pointer to give LR the lead back and freshman Tim Steele buried a triple on the next possession as LR would have the lead for good
- Armon Muldrew, Gunn and Hawks all hit clutch shots down the stretch and LR wouldn't miss from the FT line to close out the victory

ABOUT THE BEARS:
- Hawks added 19 points and five boards
- Muldrew made his first career start
- The trio of Simmons, Gunn and Hawks combined for 62 points on the night
- Lenoir-Rhyne led for 34:01 of the game and never trailed by more than four points

NOTABLE RAILSPLITTERS:
- After being held in check in the first half, Whitfield caught fire in the second half and finished with 21 points
- Four players scored in double figures for LMU
- Foul trouble was a big factor in this one as Cameron Henry and Jordan Guest fouled out and Whitfield and Xavier Bledson each finished with four fouls

UP NEXT:
The Bears jump right back to action on Monday when they travel to Anderson for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.