By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Lincoln Memorial was 30-3 last season and 28-3 the season before that, but coach Josh Schertz believes this is his best basketball team.
Catawba didn’t do anything Saturday to make Schertz change his mind. Catawba lost to LMU’s Railsplitters, 82-64, at Goodman Gym, and the closest the Indians got in the second half was a nine-point deficit.
Lincoln Memorial boasts the broad shoulders and bulging biceps of a football team, but the Railsplitters also can shoot. They were 9-for-19 on 3-pointers and 21-for-26 on free throws as they took care of the Indians.
“They’re really deep, they’re really good, and they made tough shots, even when we had a hand up,” Catawba coach Rob Perron said. “They’re a make-you-pay team. Make a lazy pass and they make you pay. Take a bad angle on defense and they make you pay. Leave a guy open for a 3-point look and they make you pay.”
No. 16-ranked Lincoln Memorial (14-2, 10-0 SAC) is a point guard-less squad, but it’s been making everyone in the SAC pay. LMU won at home against 13th-ranked Queens (14-1, 8-1) on Jan. 9, 86-76.
“That was a war,” Schertz said, shaking his head.
Catawba redshirt freshman Jeremy McLaughlin said if he had to choose between Lincoln Memorial and Queens, he’d take Queens, but he gave Lincoln Memorial its due.
“That’s a very unselfish team,” he said. “They pass the ball well and they have good spacing. Everyone always knows where his teammates will be.”
Schertz has a lot of respect for Perron and Catawba and he expects the Indians (7-9, 5-5) to contend for the SAC championship next season.
“They lost K.J. Arrington (torn ACL) before this season, and I voted for K.J. last year as the player of the year in our league,” Schertz said. “In the short term, that really hurts Catawba. But in the long term, when K.J. comes back next season to join teammates who are getting a lot of experience, they’re going to be tough to handle.”
Lincoln Memorial focused its defense on Jameel Taylor and Jerrin Morrison. Taylor still had a good day — 17 points, eight rebounds — but Morrison, who shot 1-for-6, wasn’t a factor.
“We tried to lock in on those two,” Schertz said. “We look at Morrison as the best mid-range player in our league, but we took the 3-point line away from him and we did a good job of challenging his shots when he got into the lane. We never let him get going. Taylor is one of the elite two-way players in our league. He’s very good offensively and defensively, and he was good again today. We didn’t do a great job against him.”
Gerrel Simmons scored 21 points for the Railsplitters from Harrogate, Tenn. Luquon Choice made four 3-pointers and scored 19.
Catawba went ahead, 2-0, when Taylor squirmed inside for a bucket, but that was the Indians’ only lead.
LMU, which came in averaging 97 points per game, reeled off the next seven points, but Catawba dictated the slower pace it wanted for most of the first half. When Catawba forced a shot-clock violation and Taylor scored in the lane, Lincoln Memorial led, 19-14, with seven minutes left in the first half.
When Rakeen Brown scored on a drive, Catawba trailed, 30-22, but the final possessions of the first half were a disaster for the Indians. They were outscored 9-0 in that critical stretch to fall behind, 39-22, at the break.
Curtis Webb made a 3-pointer off a turnover, and Gerrel Simmons hit a 3-pointer and scored on a three-point play.
“That was a key segment in the game because that’s when we got the separation that kept us in front in the second half,” Schertz said. “Because of foul trouble for two of our big guys, we had five guards in there at the end of the half. We were just trying to buy some time, but it worked out great for us.”
Catawba made a couple of pushes in the second half.
McLaughlin led a surge that got the Indians back to 44-34 early in the second half, but then he picked up his third personal foul. Then he got his fourth foul 21 seconds later with a teammate sitting at the scorer’s table waiting to replace him.
McLaughlin had to sit down.
“We’d played flat at the end of the first half,” McLaughlin said. “I was trying to bring some energy at the start of the second half.”
Morrison’s bucket on a lob by Brown got the Indians within 55-46 with 12:24 remaining, but a stick-back by Jalen Steele and five quick points by Choice ended any hope of a Catawba comeback.
Catawba finished with more offensive rebounds and fewer turnovers than the visitors, but woeful shooting in the first half (28.6 percent) dug a hole that was too deep.
“Jameel played well today, but this was one of those games where we needed four or five to play well to have a chance,” Perron said.
Catawba is home again Wednesday when it entertains Newberry. The Wolves are coached by Dave Davis, Perron’s coaching mentor.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL (82)
Simmons 21, Choice 19, Steele 13, McMillion 10, Terry 8, Webb 6, Pinston 3, Spaw 2, Woodson, Blanc, Hankins, Pierce.
CATAWBA (64)
Taylor 17, Ingram 9, McLaughlin 7, Warren 7, Brown 7, Barber 6, Sampah 6, Sealey 3, Morrison 2, Perkins, Burney, Childress. Marijosius.

Lincoln Memorial 39 43 — 82
Catawba 22 42 — 64