Railsplitters Set To Take On Eagles With Big Win Over Temple Baptist
December 1, 2009
Photo by Ray WelchHARROGATE, TN - The Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team put the final touches on its game Tuesday evening when the Railsplitters played their final non-conference outing before opening the 2009-10 South Atlantic Conference schedule this Saturday against arch-rival Carson-Newman College.
In the first of two meetings between the Railsplitters and Temple Baptist College, LMU came away with an impressive 98-46 win without the services of First Team All-South Atlantic Conference forward D'Mario Curry (Detroit, MI) who was sidelined for one game suspension due to team rules violations.
With the exception of a two point lead less than three minutes into the game, the Railsplitters led nearly the entire night, opening up an overwhelming margin of 55 points with 1:05 to play.
As he did against Hiwassee College on Saturday, sophomore forward Brandon O'Brien (Stone Mountain, GA) led all scorers with 17 points while finishing with a double-double by also pulling 10 rebounds. In his first game since returning from a minor surgery, sophomore guard Brandon Armstrong (Decatur, GA) also recorded a double-double performance of 10 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman teammate Wally Jones (Greensboro, NC) pumped in 16 points, sophomore Carlos Sanford (Durham, NC) had 14 and senior Stuart Miller (Harrogate, TN) added 12 in the Railsplitters' fifth win of the season.
Now 5-1 on the season, when the Carson-Newman Eagles come to town on Saturday for the South Atlantic Conference opener, the Railsplitters will enter their first league game of the year averaging 97.8 points per game which is more than any LMU men's basketball team has put on the board nightly since the days when NAIA All-Americans Nick Sanford and Lawrence Buell dawned the Railsplitter blue and gray.
The Eagles are expected to enter Saturday night's first meeting with LMU boasting a 5-3 overall record pending the outcome of Wednesday's non-conference meeting with Maryville College and will represent one half of a rivalry that dates back to as far as the 1923 season. Saturday night's LMU vs. Carson-Newman men's and women's double header is being sponsored by DeRoyal Industries and free tickets to the games can be picked up by stopping by one of the DeRoyal locations throughout the tri-state area. Tip-off for the Railsplitters and Eagles is set for 8:00 p.m.
