Men’s Basketball Loses at Lincoln Memorial

HARROGATE, Tenn. - Sammy Emile tied a Mars Hill school record scoring 50 points but the Lions' men's basketball team lost at top-ranked Lincoln Memorial, 131-96 Wednesday night in Tex Turner Arena. The Lions fell to 3-11 overall and 1-4 in the SAC. LMU, ranked no. 1 by the NABC in the latest NCAA Division II poll, improved to 15-0 on the season and 5-0 in the league.

Emile tied Bill Loven's MHC single game scoring record. Loven scored 50 points in the Lions 123-90 win over Emory & Henry on December 12, 1964. The scoring mark stands in second place in SAC history. Ishmael Sanders from Carson-Newman scored 51 points against Mars Hill on February 16, 2011, to obtain the current single game record. Emile was 13-27 from the field, 6-10 from behind the arc and 18-20 at the foul line. He added three rebounds, the same number of assists, two blocks and a pair of steals.

Terrell Harris followed Emile with 18 points and seven rebounds while JaShawn Anderson added 14 points. Jake Troyli led LMU with 26 points and nine rebounds followed by Justin Allen with 18 points. Wally Jones (17), Vincent Bailey (17), Brandon Armstrong (13) and Dustin Craig (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Railsplitters. LMU scored 80 points in the paint, received 58 points from their bench and out rebounded the Lions, 61-28. LMU converted on 58.6% (51-87) of their shots as opposed to the Lions who hit 39.2% (29-74) of their attempts.

Troyli hit a shot in the lane with 19:09 left in the first half to give the Railsplitters a 4-3 advantage they would not relinquish. LMU led by 19 points on two occasions in the first half and enjoyed a 59-40 lead at halftime.

The Lions trimmed the deficit to 16 points on two occasions in the second half but that was as close as they could get. LMU's largest lead was 36 points (129-93) that came with 33 seconds left in the contest.

Mars Hill will play at Wingate University on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.