HICKORY, NC - The Bears win big games. Facing No. 9 Lincoln Memorial in their second straight ranked matchup, Lenoir-Rhyne once again came out on top. A Ziare Wells bucket with second remaining propelled the Bears to the 79-77 victory, their ninth in a row. 

Leading the Bears was senior Tay Smith, who hit four threes en-route to a new Lenoir-Rhyne high of 25 points. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #21 Lenoir-Rhyne 79, #9 Lincoln Memorial 77
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne 11-2 (8-1 SAC), Lincoln Memorial 9-2 (7-1 SAC)
Location: Hickory, NC | Shuford Arena

STORY OF THE GAME

• In a low-scoring first half, the game was tied 17-17 with 7:23 remaining in the frame.
• Leading 25-24, a Ziare Wells three ignited an 11-1 run to close the half for the Bears. 
• Tay Smith opened the second half with a three to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 13-point advantage, their largest of the game.
• Lincoln Memorial clawed back, taking a 54-53 lead with 9:59 left in the game.
• The momentum switched back to the Bears a few minutes later thanks to another Smith three and a Conrad Luczynski dunk.
• A Ziare Wells fast break dunk pushed Lenoir-Rhyne's lead to six with just over a minute remaining.
• LMU went on a 7-1 run over the next minute, but a Wells layup with two seconds remaining and an LMU three point miss gave the Bears the win.

STATS OF THE MATCH:

• Tay Smith led the way for the Bears, finishing with 25 points on an incredibly efficient 9-11 from the field and 4-5 from three.
• Ziare Wells (19), Conrad Luczynski (13), and Hantz Louis-Jeune (12) joined Smith in double figures.
• Lucznyski filled up the box score, also adding in six rebounds and four blocks. 
• Louise-Jeune and Julian Dozier tied for the team high with seven assists. 
• LMU's Wes Enis was tough to stop, as he led all scorers with 33 points.
• As a team the Bears were 28-59 (47.5%) from the field and 6-15 (40%) from three. 
• Lincoln Memorial was 28-60 (46.7%) from the field and 9-27 (33.3%) from three.
• The Bears went 17-22 (77.3%) at the charity stripe to help clinch this victory.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Sitting at 11-2, this is the best Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball start since 1990-91.
• Ziare Wells hasn't shot below 50% in a game since November 30th vs. UVA Wise.
• This is the Bears highest ranked win since they took down No. 7 LMU on February 18th, 2023.
• The crowd of 1,317 is the most in recorded NCAA history for Lenoir-Rhyne basketball.
• Lenoir-Rhyne now sits at the top of the SAC standings with an 8-1 conference mark.

UP NEXT: The Bears will be on the road next week when they travel to Mars Hill on Wednesday to take on the Lions. MHU fell 83-74 to Catawba earlier today. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.