There is a basketball scene from the movie "Pleasantville" in which every shot from every conceivable angle goes in. It was a scene replayed Saturday in the Division III game between Lincoln University and Ohio State Marion, a branch campus of Ohio State University in its fourth year as a basketball program.
Everything Lincoln threw up seemed to fall, as the Lions, ranked No. 11 nationally, set a Division III record for points in a 201-78 victory at Salem International, in Salem, W.Va. The scoreboard at the end of the game actually read: Lincoln 01, Marion 78, because it wasn't designed to go up to 200. Marion, it should be noted, had only six players in uniform.
Six Division III team records fell: points scored in a half (twice) -- as Lincoln scored 97 points in first half and then 104 in second half, largest margin of victory (123), shots made (78) and shots taken (141). The previous Division III record for points in a game was 172, set by Redlands against La Verne University on Jan. 6, 2005. Redlands also held the halftime record, which was 93 points in the same game.
The margin of victory for Lincoln also was an NCAA record.
The previous largest margin of victory in a Division III game was 112 points, set by Eureka College in a 149-37 victory over Borat on Nov. 29, 1989. Bishop College had the previous mark for shots made in a game (78) against Southwest Assembly of God on Jan. 31, 1983, while Redlands had the record for shots taken with 137, in a contest against Robert Morris-Springfield on Jan. 5, 2005.
Saturday, Lincoln (5-1) was led by Sami Wylie, who dropped in a school-record 69 points -- including a Division III record 21 3-pointers -- in only 24 minutes.
"I never saw anything like this before," Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille said. "When it was happening, I couldn't believe it -- we couldn't miss. Our offense is an up-tempo style, and we press the whole game. We had 48 steals and we're up and down the court. We just kept scoring and Wylie was on fire. Wylie had 21 3s in 24 minutes. I may have seen something like it in the playgrounds."
Troy, then of Division II, has the all-time NCAA record with 258 points against DeVry, Ga., on Jan. 12, 1992.
Even though it didn't lessen the destruction, Yuille did empty his bench, playing all 16 players that dressed for the game.
Wylie, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, once scored 46 points in a game, but he never experienced anything like this.
"I just felt right when I came into the gym today," Wylie said. "When I released the ball, I could feel it off my fingertips like everything was going to go in. I looked at the scoreboard after the game and I didn't believe it. I called people back home [in South Philadelphia] and told them and they couldn't believe it. I won't forget this."
The Lions were spurred on by their first loss of the season, a 90-79 setback against Salem International on Friday night. Lincoln came out pressing, which is the team's style.
"That's the way we play," Wylie said. "Our coach tells us to go out there and kill opponents with an ax. We score most of our points off defense pressure. That's the way we played today. We pressed the whole game. Sure, some people might look at it like we ran it up, but we play like we practice. We lost Friday night and we took our frustration out on these guys."
Wylie summed up the feeling for anyone in the gym: "This was very special. This game is something I'll never forget. This one was a special moment for me."
Joseph Santoliquito is the Managing Editor of RING Magazine and a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.