Catawba Athletics
Jim Lewis, Senior Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications
SALISBURY, N.C. – Lincoln Memorial, ranked second in the latest NABC national poll, broke open a tight game over the last 10 minutes of the first half and went on to post a 109-76 victory over host Catawba in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action on Wednesday afternoon at Goodman Gym. The Railsplitters improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the SAC, while the Catawba Indians fall to 1-3 and 1-3.
Leading only 20-18 with just over nine minutes to go in the opening stanza, LMU went on a 30-6 run during the rest of the half to grab a 50-24 lead at the break. The Indians played well for much of the second half, cutting a 30-point deficit to 17 with 9:24 to go. That would be as close as Catawba got as LMU stretched the lead back out the rest of the way.
Lloyd Hemming paced Catawba with 20 points and five rebounds. Ben Bowen added 16 on 7-of-9 shooting. Larry McLeod tossed in 12 points and Terrence Whitfield collected 10.
All five LMU starters reached double figures, led by Devin Whitfield’s 21. Jordan Guest picked up 19 with Alex Dahling scoring 11. Cameron Henry and Julius Brown each had 10. Jeremiah Keene came off the bench to add 13 points with Shaquille Rombley grabbing a dozen rebounds.
The Railsplitters shot 65% for the game and were 18-of-33 (54%) from behind the arc. Catawba canned 45%, but were only 3-of-19 from long range.
Catawba is set to finish is pre-holiday slate on Saturday, traveling to Mars Hill for a 4:30 p.m. tip in the second half of a league doubleheader. Today’s game can be seen on delay on Eleven Sports (DirecTV channel 623).