ROCK HILL, SC - After a 22-year drought, the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball team is back on top of the SAC mountaintop. In a game full of adversity, the Bears took down top-seeded Lincoln Memorial 82-78 in overtime. 

Down 69-61, the Bears went on a 10-2 run to close the game. In overtime, the combination of Ziare Wells and Julian Dozier took over, scoring all but one of LR's 11 overtime points to lead the Bears to the win. 

Wells, who won the tournament's MVP award, was dominant, finishing the game with 23 points and 13 boards. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #14 Lenoir-Rhyne 82, #8 Lincoln Memorial 78
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (26-5, 20-4 SAC), Lincoln Memorial (25-5, 21-3)
Location: Rock Hill, SC | Rock Hill Sports and Events Center

STORY OF THE GAME

• Tay Smith opened the scoring with a fast break dunk on the Bears second possession of the game.
• A Junior Hodnett three kept the Bears ahead 16-11 at the 13:52 mark of the first half.
• A late Julian Dozier three gave the Bears a 40-35 lead at the break.
• Lincoln Memorial didn't go quietly as they opened the second half on a 19-7 run, taking a 54-47 lead.
• The Railsplitters kept pushing, eventually taking a 69-61 lead with just 3:38 left in the game.
• Two straight Ziare Wells buckets ignited a 10-2 Bears run to close the game. 
• Dozier hit a clutch floater with 34 seconds left, and LMU's Wes Enis missed a step back three at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
• LR carried their momentum from regulation into OT, quickly jumping out 77-71.
• After LMU cut it to one, Dozier hit another clutch bucket to give LR a three-point lead.
• Ziare Wells hit two free throws before Conrad Luczynski sealed the win with a free throw with two seconds left.

STATS OF THE MATCH:

• Ziare Wells led the Bears, going off for 23 points and 13 boards.
• Julian Dozier (20) and Tay Smith (16) joined Wells in double-figures.
• Wells and Sam Martin each tallied two blocks in the contest.
• After turning it over 16 times yesterday, LR coughed it up just seven times today.
• For the game the Bears shot 31-73 (42.5%) from the field and 7-22 (31.8%) from three. 
• LMU was 28-64 (43.8%) from the field and 5-19 (26.3%) from three.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• This was Lenoir-Rhyne's first SAC Tournament Title since the 2002-03 season.
• Brent Owen has now won back-to-back conference tournament titles, as he won the Lone Star last season with ENMU.
• This is the first time LR has beaten Lincoln Memorial twice in the same season since 2007-08. 
• Lenoir-Rhyne now has 26 wins in a season for the first time since the 1962-63 campaign.

UP NEXT: Thanks to this win, the Bears earned the SAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Currently ranked four in the Southeast Region, Lenoir-Rhyne will find out their seed and location of the regional during Sunday night's selection show. The show will air live on NCAA.com at 11 p.m. ET.