Anderson Tops Lincoln Memorial In NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Seventh-seeded Anderson University continued its success against one of the country's top teams, knocking off second-seeded and tenth-ranked Lincoln Memorial University 91-86 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament Southeast Regional at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
Lincoln Memorial (27-3), which was ranked as high as No. 5 nationally after opening the season with 22 straight wins, suffered two of its three losses this season to Anderson (19-11). Anderson advances to Sunday's 5 p.m. semifinal against sixth-seeded Montevallo, which upset third-seeded Georgia Southwestern 62-59 in the first game of the day.
Nick Trull hit five of his eight shots from the field, including three from three-point range, and all seven of his free throws to lead a balanced Anderson attack with 20 points. Brandon Young scored 16 points, Denzail Jones added 14 and Trey Britton and Taylor Shugart each chipped in 13. Shugart pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while Jones had five assists and four steals.
Darryl Garrett paced LMU with 24 points. Foul trouble limited D'Mario Curry, the Railsplitters' leading scorer (17.6 points per game), to just 12 minutes of action. Curry scored nine points, all in the first half, before fouling out with 6:55 remaining in the game.
LMU led by as many as nine points in the second half, 59-50 on a jumper by Garrett with 12:06 remaining. Anderson answered with a 12-2 run, capped by two Trull free throws, to go up 62-61, its first lead since 18-17.
Anderson was out-rebounded 39-25, but two huge offensive rebounds keyed the Trojans' second-half surge. Jones rebounded Trull's three-point miss and hit a jumper to give Anderson a 67-63 lead, and, on the Trojans' next trip down the floor, Curry committed his fifth foul after Britton grabbed a rebound. Britton hit both free throws to push the lead to six.
The Trojans took their first double-digit lead, 80-70, on a Britton basket with just 2:17 to play. LMU hit a trio of three-pointers in the final minute to pull within 89-84, but Jones sealed the upset with two free throws with 16 seconds left. Anderson shot 80.6 percent (29-36) from the free throw line for the game, compared to 61.3 percent (19-31) for Lincoln Memorial.
Quotes:
Anderson Head Coach Jason Taylor
"I'm not sure how it looked from the stands, but both teams played
well. I'm very proud of the team and we are living in the
moment."
"We've been through many battles this season, but we seem to be a lot more comfortable this year."
"We are looking forward to playing against Montevallo tomorrow. They are a very well-coached team and they are very careful to details. We both are good executing teams and I feel this is going to be a good match up."
Anderson Senior Guard Brandon Young
"We definitely did our best this game. I believe the fouls and the
free throws helped to give the boost that we needed."
(In regard to playing against Lincoln Memorial): "We have similar styles, so it seemed as if we knew their moves."
Anderson Senior Guard Kevis Cornwell
"Like our coach tells us, the game isn't over until it's over. So,
I think we played great offense and defense, and we let the results
take care of themselves."
"I like to call us a battle-tested team, because we've had our backs up against the wall before. So, we knew that we had to come out fighting and this was truly a heart-felt game."
Lincoln Memorial Head Coach Josh Schertz
"The team didn't put forth their best effort in this game. Anderson
played hungrier than we did and it showed."
"This is our first time playing at this stage, and there were several plays in the second half that cost us the game."
"I give tremendous amount of credit to Anderson. I felt like they made several championship plays this game and I believe their tournament experience really gives them an advantage."
"If we ever get back to the tournament, we want to be more in line of who we are and show the same performance that we portrayed throughout this year's season."
Lincoln Memorial Sophomore Guard Cam Carden
"Our team fought and practiced hard. We can't hang our heads about
anything because we have obtained many accomplishments this
season."
"Both teams were making shots, but we didn't go hard enough in the second half."
At Augusta, GA
ANDERSON 91, LINCOLN MEMORIAL 86
ANDERSON (19-11)
Trull,Nick 5-8 7-7 20; Young,Brandon 4-9 4-6 16; Jones,Denzail 4-9
5-5 14; Shugart,Taylor 6-9 1-2 13; Britton,Trey 3-4 7-8 13;
Ernsteins,Oskars 2-7 2-2 8; Cornwell,Kevis 2-5 3-4 7;
McDowell,Tyrell 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 26-52 29-36 91.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL (27-3)
Garrett,Darryl 7-11 9-12 24; Armstrong,Brandon 5-11 2-2 16;
Carden,Cam 3-11 2-3 11; Johnson,Desmond 4-8 3-8 11; Curry,D'Mario
4-4 0-0 9; Jones,Wally 3-5 0-2 7; Bailey,Vincent 1-3 3-4 5;
Sanford,Carlos 1-1 0-0 3; Martin,Tony 0-0 0-0 0; Jones,Chance 0-2
0-0 0; Jordan,Kierre 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-56 19-31 86.
Anderson......................... 44 47 - 91
Lincoln Memorial.............. 47 39 - 86
3-point goals--Anderson 10-24 (Young,Brandon 4-7; Trull,Nick 3-6;
Ernsteins,Oskars 2-6; Jones,Denzail 1-3; McDowell,Tyrell 0-1;
Britton,Trey 0-1), Lincoln Memorial 11-27 (Armstrong,Brandon 4-8;
Carden,Cam 3-8; Garrett,Darryl 1-5; Sanford,Carlos 1-1; Jones,Wally
1-3; Curry,D'Mario 1-1; Jones,Chance 0-1).
Fouled out--Anderson-None, Lincoln Memorial-Carden,Cam;
Curry,D'Mario.
Rebounds--Anderson 25 (Shugart,Taylor 8), Lincoln Memorial 39
(Garrett,Darryl 10).
Assists--Anderson 13 (Jones,Denzail 5), LincolnMemorial 12
(Armstrong,Brandon 2; Carden,Cam 2; Curry,D'Mario 2).
Total fouls--Anderson 23, Lincoln Memorial 27.
Technical fouls--Anderson-None, Lincoln Memorial-None.
A-1024