GREENVILLE, S.C.  – Grabbing a dominant 92-73 win over Carson-Newman University, the fifth-ranked Queens University of Charlotte Royals advance to the South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Final for the second straight year. The Royals will look to defend their 2017 title tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. against No. 1 Lincoln Memorial University.
 
Queens improves to 28-2 on the year with its seventh straight win over Carson-Newman while the Eagles drop to 23-7. Carson-Newman, who ranked fifth in the final NCAA Southeast Regional rankings this week, will wait until tomorrow's NCAA DII Men's Basketball Selection Show to learn its fate in the big dance. The show will air at 10:30 p.m.
 
Shaun Willett led the Royals this evening recording his third double-double of the year with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Ike Agusi added 14 points, four rebound, and four assists while Daniel Carr recorded 13 points and four assists. Jalin Alexander and Lewis Diankulu followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Todd Withers flirted with a triple-double recording nine points, eight rebounds, and a new career-high six blocks while Mike Davis and Darryl White totaled seven points each. White was a perfect 3-3 from the floor in his return to the court having not played since the Royals faced the Railsplitters at home on Jan. 13.
 
Queens never trailed in this evening's game, quickly taking the lead 40 seconds into play on a jumper from Alexander and never looking back. By 15:05, the Royals held a 13-3 lead over the Eagles and despite Carson-Newman closing the gap to one, 15-14, with 12:52 on the clock, Queens never relinquished control of the game. An and-one play by Queens' Willett would be all the Royals needed to spark a 10-0 spurt putting them back on top by 11 points, 25-14, following the Eagles' run. Queens' lead then grew to as much as 13 before the second-seeded Royals took a 48-37 lead into the break.
 
The Royals shot 50-percent from the floor in the opening half while holding the Eagles to 33.33-percent shooting. Carson-Newman would close the half without scoring a single field goal in the final 3:48.
 
The margin in the second half quickly swelled to 20 points as Agusi and Alexnder got hot combining for 12 points during a 14-5 run by the Royals. A three-pointer from Carson-Newman's Grant Teichmann would cut Queens' lead to 11, 66-55, but that was as close as the Eagles would get to the Royals before 11 unanswered points made it a 20-point game again. Queens saw its largest lead of the night on a layup by Willett at 8:27 that put the Royals ahead, 79-52, before they eventually took the 19-point victory to advance to tomorrow's championship game.
 
Queens completed tonight's game with a 49.3 field goal percentage while the Eagles shot 36.8-percent from the floor. The Royals also dominated play in the paint, outscoring the Carson-Newman 44-28 in the lane.
 
Teichmann led the Eagles with 22 points and nine rebounds while Shaun Jones finished play with 17 points and nine rebounds. Malik Abraham added 11 points.
 
With the win, Queens advances to face No 1 Lincoln Memorial in the SAC Championship Final for the second straight year. The Royals defeated the Railsplitters in last year's championship winning 75-72. This will be the third meeting between the two this year as Lincoln Memorial won both battles during the regular season edging the Royals at home, 73-72, before winning 80-65 in the one versus two matchup just a week ago in Harrogate, Tenn.