GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lincoln Memorial's Cam Carden accounted for 17 points and five assists to lead the 12th-ranked Railsplitters to an 83-70 South Atlantic Conference win at Tusculum College Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena. It was the league lid-lifter for both teams.

LMU (5-0, 1-0 SAC) remains undefeated on the season, while recording its ninth straight victory over the Pioneers (1-5, 0-1 SAC).

Lorenza Ross added 16 points, while Wally Jones and Vincent Bailey posted 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Tusculum's Neal Spinks scored 13 points from the bench, while Darius Carter added a dozen markers on 5-of-9 shooting. Devin Call finished with 11 points and 5-of-6 shooting, while Addison Flynn tallied 11 points and five assists in the loss.

It was a very physical contest that included 56 personal fouls combined as five players (4 TC, 1 LMU) fouled out of the game.

LMU jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the opening seven-and-half minutes as Carden tallied seven points during the opening run.

Tusculum answered with eight unanswered points in a two-minute span, including a three-pointer by Keith Jumper and a Neal Spinks three-point play as the Pioneers led 15-12 at the 10:45 mark of the half.

The Railsplitters responded with an 11-1 run to take their largest lead of the period at 23-16 following a Lorenza Ross jumper with 4:40 remaining before halftime.

Tusculum cut the deficit back to one with a 6-0 spurt that included a pair of Flynn free throws and back-to-back buckets by Call to make the score 26-25 with 2:07 left.

LMU would close out the half with a 6-0 run of its own including an offensive rebound and put-back by CJ Wakeley at the buzzer as the Railsplitters took a 31-25 advantage into the locker room.

TC would score the first two field goals of the second half on consecutive baskets by Carter as the Pioneers trailed 31-29.

Carden made a pair of free throws and Wally Jones drained a three-pointer on a fast-break as LMU led 36-31 a minute into the half.

With LMU leading 36-33, the visitors would go on a 12-2 run to take a 48-35 lead with 14:41 remaining, as the Splitters utilized a pair of three-pointers by Jones and one trey from Carden.

LMU maintained its double-digit lead for the next five minutes, but could not extend their advantage to more that 14 points. With LMU leading 58-44 with 9:50 left on the clock, Tusculum went on an 8-2 run that included a Flynn trey, a Call basket and a pair of JD Miller free throws as the Pioneers cut the deficit to 60-52.

Tusculum would trail 64-56 as the Railsplitters scored five points in row, including a Ross basket and a three-point play by Curtis McMillion as LMU extended its lead back to double-digits at 69-56 with 6:17 left.

Tusculum would cut the deficit to 10 points on two occasions down the stretch, but that would be as close as the Pioneers would get.
LMU finished the evening shooting 46.2 percent form the floor (24-of-52), including 13-of-25 (52%) in the second half. TC fired at a 42 percent clip, including 17-of-34 (50%) in the final period.

LMU out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 39-33 margin as Craig led the way with his seven boards to go along with four points and three of the Railsplitters six blocked shots on the night.

Jumper led Tusculum's rebounding efforts with six boards, while adding seven points in the contest.

Tusculum returns to action on Monday (Dec. 3) when the Pioneers host Queens University of Charlotte for a 7 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena.

- TC -