Men's Basketball Weekly Round Up - Dec. 13th
Men's Basketball Weekly Roundup December 13th
Lincoln Memorial (9-0, 3-0 SAC) – The 4th ranked Railsplitters had themselves a week. Wow. First, Lincoln Memorial beat Bluefield 108-61 behind 18 three-pointers, and a field-goal percentage of 57.1%. As an encore, they broke multiple records in a 156-69 drubbing of Mars Hill. They broke the SAC record for scoring and three-pointers by pouring in 156 points and hitting 30 three-pointers. The Railsplitters hit a remarkable 30-43 from behind the three-point line for a 69.8% clip.
Trevon Shaw was the star, setting a school record by connecting on 11 of 13 three-point attempts and scoring a career-high 35 points. Alex Dahling also added an impressive 17 points in just 14 minutes of action thanks to five made three-pointers.
Lincoln Memorial is peaking at just the right time. They play the best team in the country, Northwest Missouri State on December 19th in perhaps the most high-profile regular season game in DII this season.
Upcoming: vs Wingate (12/13), @ Newberry (12/16), vs #1 NW Missouri State
Queens (8-0, 3-0 SAC) – The second-ranked Royals picked up a relatively easy 90-79 win over Anderson last week. The Royals led by 20 points with five minutes remaining before the Trojans finally cut the final deficit to 11. Lewis Diankulu led the way with 20 points and eight rebounds in the victory. Diankulu now ranks third in the conference in field goal percentage, hitting 74% of his shots.
Queens has a busy week ahead of them with four games in six days, including a very difficult match-up against Carson-Newman.
Upcoming: vs Carson-Newman (12/13), vs Palm Beach Atlantic (12/16), @ Coker (12/18), vs Johnson C. Smith
Wingate (4-5, 2-0 SAC) – Wingate had the week off, but have three games scheduled for the upcoming week. They have the unfortunate task of trying to cool the red-hot Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters on Wednesday before facing Tusculum and Catawba to close out the week.
Upcoming: @ Lincoln Memorial (12/13), vs Tusculum (12/16), @ Catawba (12/19)
Coker (4-6, 1-1 SAC) - The Cobras trailed Carson-Newman 80-74 with under nine minutes remaining in the game, but were outscored 29-12 down the stretch thanks to a dominant performance from Charles Clark. Coker had four starters finish with double-figure scoring, led by Donte Samuels with 17 points. The Coker defense just couldn't find an answer for Clark, who put up 37 points and 10 rebounds in the game.
Upcoming: @ Tusculum (12/13), vs Mars Hill (12/16), vs Queens (12/18)
Newberry (7-3, 2-1 SAC) – Newberry's game against Mars Hills was cancelled due to inclement weather, giving the Wolves an unexpected break in action last week. They'll go on the road for a game against Anderson this week, and then host the fourth-ranked, Railsplitters on Saturday.
Upcoming: @ Anderson (12/13), vs Lincoln Memorial (12/16)
Carson-Newman (9-1, 3-1 SAC) – The Eagles had a nice week, picking up two SAC victories over Anderson and Coker. Charles Clark was the difference in both games. He averaged 31 points, and seven rebounds on the week while connecting on 12 of 19 of his three-point attempts. Clark is now second in the conference in points per game with 21.2.
The Eagles have three difficult opponents scheduled for next week, including a road game against #2 Queens, and a game against a Limestone team that has won three of its' past four contests.
Upcoming: @ Queens (12/13), vs Lenoir-Rhyne (12/16), vs Limestone (12/19)
Lenoir-Rhyne (3-5, 1-2 SAC) – The Bears jumped out to an early first half lead that Belmont Abbey just never recovered from to pick up a win in their only game of the week. A steal and dunk by RJ Gunn put the Bears up 24-12 early, and Lenoir-Rhyne extended the lead to as much as 22 points in the first half to bury Belmont Abbey.
Bertrand Awana dominated in the post, connecting on 11 of his 12 shots and scoring 22 points, and adding 13 rebounds. Awana is now hitting 75.5% of his shots on the year.
The Bears hit the road this week, with big games against Carson-Newman and King College.
Upcoming: @ Mars Hill (12/13), @ Carson-Newman (12/16), @ King (TN) (12/19)
Anderson (2-8, 0-3 SAC) – The Trojans had a rough week, losing to both Carson-Newman and Queens. Anderson struggled to shoot the ball in their game against Queens, with Randall Shaw and Gage Ellis combining to hit just five of their 22 shots. Sophomore, Chrisitan Jeffords played very well, averaging 11.5 points per game. Jeffords is a streaky shooter who scored 37 points off the bench in a game against Newberry last season. He'll have a chance to repeat that feat this week when the Wolves visit Anderson on Wednesday.
Upcoming: vs Newberry (12/13), @ Catawba (12/16)
Catawba (3-5, 0-3 SAC) – The Indians salvaged their week by squeaking out a victory over St. Augustine's on Tuesday. SAC scoring leader Jerrin Morrison scored 37 points in the victory. Morrison scored 25 points in the first half, but missed a couple of late free throws that gave St. Augustine a chance to tie the game in OT. Three Catawba players played more than 40 minutes in the victory, but will have three days off to rest before hosting Anderson on Saturday.
Upcoming: vs Anderson (12/16), vs Wingate (12/19)
Tusculum (3-6, 1-2 SAC) – Peyton Woods erupted for 27 points, and Donovan Donaldson added 19 in Tusculum's victory over Catawba. Zach Hartle, the Pioneers' three-point specialist has been surprisingly quiet for the past two games. Hartle has taken a total of just five shots, and averaged only 3.0 points per game in Tuculum's last two contests after averaging 17.3 in the previous three games.
Upcoming: vs Coker (12/13), @ Wingate (12/16), vs Barton (12/19)
Mars Hill (2-7, 0-3 SAC) – It was a rough week for the Lions who saw their game against Newberry cancelled because of inclement weather and then watched Lincoln Memorial re-write the record books in their 156-69 loss on Monday. Austin Gilyard was the lone bright spot for Mars Hill, scoring 23 points off the bench against the Railsplitters. They look to get back on track with two winnable games on the schedule this week against Lenoir-Rhyne and Coker.
Upcoming: vs Lenoir-Rhyne (12/13), @ Coker (12/16)
J. Scott Sewell is an intern from Coker College in Hartsville, SC. He's currently majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in English, Communication, and Physical Education