Lenoir-Rhyne Captures First SAC Tournament Title Since 2003 in OT Victory over Lincoln Memorial

ROCK HILL, S.C. (theSAC.com) – For the fourth time in program history and first time since 2003, the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears are the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Champions. Second-seeded LR took down the top seed Lincoln Memorial 82-78 in the title game. The Bears erased an 8-point deficit with three minutes in regulation to force OT and come away with the title. The three SAC Tournament wins by LR came by a combined seven points.

For the second straight year, the championship game went to overtime. A basket by LMU's Wes Enis gave the Railsplitters a 71-69 edge with 42 seconds but Julian Dozier had the answer with 34 seconds left to even the game. LMU's last attempt was off the mark as the game went to overtime.

The Bears started overtime on a 6-0 run with Dozier scoring back-to-back buckets to make it 77-71. However, Elyjah Freeman would answer with a personal 5-0 spurt to pull the Railsplitters within one. LR would extend the lead to three and LMU had two attempts from long range in the closing seconds but neither found the bottom of the net.

Ziare Wells finished with 23 points and 13 boards to earn MVP honors. Dozier had 20 points and five rebounds and Tay Smith had 16 points five boards and four steals.

Freeman led the way for LMU with 29 points and 15 rebounds while Wes Enis had 22 points and five rebounds.

The Bears shot 42 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from long range while LMU went 43 percent from the floor but just 26 percent from deep. LMU had a slight 42-40 edge on the boards but had twice as many turnovers (14-7) as LR.

The Bears clinch the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with today's win. The full tournament field will be unveiled on Sunday night on NCAA.com.

A seven-person All-Tournament team was named with Wells being named the tournament MVP. 

All-Tournament Team:

Trey Hubbard, Carson-Newman
Kris Johnson, Catawba
Wes Enis, Lincoln Memorial
Elyjah Freeman, Lincoln Memorial
Tay Smith, Lenoir-Rhyne
Julian Dozier, Lenoir-Rhyne
Ziare Wells, Lenoir-Rhyne, MVP