GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The ninth-ranked Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team placed five players in double-figure scoring and held off a furious upset bid in a 65-58 South Atlantic Conference win over Tusculum College Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena.
The Railsplitters improve to 19-2 overall and 9-2 in the league to remain one-game behind SAC leader Anderson University. The Pioneers suffered their fifth consecutive loss to fall to 7-12, 4-7 SAC.
LMU connected on six of its first eight shots and led by 18 in the first half, but Tusculum would chip away at the deficit and would eventually take the lead later in the contest. But LMU would finish the game with an 11-2 run in the final 4:29 to post the victory.
LMU's Cam Carden recorded 14 points, while Jake Troyli added 12 markers off the bench. Desmond Johnson finished with a double-double with 11 points, 14 rebounds and five assists, while Wally Jones and Chance Jones added 10 points each for the visitors.
Tusculum's Kevin Vest led all scorers with 15 points, while rookie Darius Carter contributed 11 points and three assists. Tommy Klempin tallied nine points, Daniel O'Conner added six points, five rebounds and two blocks and Nicholas Spinks recorded six points and three assists. Justin Steigerwald only had four points, but led the team with seven rebounds and five assists in his 40 minutes of work.
LMU raced out to a 15-4 lead in the opening five minutes of the contest, including eight points by Carden and four points from Johnson. LMU would respond with an 11-3 run later in the half to move out to a 31-13 advantage with 5:43 remaining in the half.
But Tusculum battled back and closed out the period with a 7-2 run, including Carter's three-pointer with five seconds remaining as the Pioneers trailed 40-33 heading to the locker room.
The Railsplitters built their lead back to double digits as they scored five straight points to open the half and lead 45-33 with 18:40 left on the clock. The Pioneers made their move and out-scored LMU by a 13-1 margin to tie the game at 46-46 on Klempin's three-point play at the 10:17 mark.
LMU would make one of two free throws to regain the advantage, but Klempin followed with a layup to give TC its first lead since he scored the opening basket 27 seconds into the game.
The Railsplitters captured the lead again on Troyli's jumper and would go up 54-50 following a pair of Chance Jones' free throws with 6:31 remaining. TC fired back with four straight points on a Neal Spinks' jumper and two free throws by O'Conner to knot the score at 54-54 with 4:29 left.
On its next possession, LMU got a three-pointer by Chance Jones and Carden connected on his third trey of the night for a 60-54 lead with 2:03 remaining.
Carter responded with a layup to pull TC to 60-56 with 48 seconds remaining, but LMU would make five of its last eight free throws and TC would miss its final three field goal attempts, falling to the nationally-ranked Railsplitters.
"LMU came in here and started the game on a great run and made some big shots. We had a good game plan in place and we stuck with it," said Tusculum head coach Michael Jones.
"I could have not been more pleased and happy with production by our team tonight, especially are young players. I feel sorry for our team that we could not have pulled that one out. To come out and compete against a quality team like Lincoln Memorial and to do the things we did, I'm really proud of them."
Tusculum shot 40.4 percent from the floor, while holding the league's top shooting team (51.8% entering the game - 10th in NCAA II) to just 38.8 percent from the field, including 6-of-21 (28.6%) in the second half.
But LMU proved why it leads the nation in rebound margin (+12.4) as the won the board-battle by a 40-27 margin, including 15-7 on the offensive glass. The Railsplitters parlayed that into 15 second chance points.
Tusculum, which has had its troubles in turnovers, committed only 12 in the game, including five in the final half as TC converted 22 points off of LMU's 14 miscues.
The Pioneers shot a sizzling 14-of-15 from the free throw line (93.3%), but LMU capitalized enough on its 29 trips to the charity stripe, connecting on 20 of its charity tosses for 69 percent.
Tusculum will host Brevard College on Saturday for a 4 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena. LMU returns home to host Catawba College on Saturday night at 8 p.m.
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