NORFOLK, Va. - No. 25 Virginia Wesleyan College used a strong
finish to the first half Saturday afternoon to key a 90-78
non-conference men's basketball victory over visiting Shenandoah.
After Shenandoah (1-7) tied the game at 19 on a Kevin Kline jumper with
just over eight minutes remaining, the Marlins (8-1) kicked it into
another gear.
VWC scored the game's next eight points and 10 of 12 total to
take a 29-21 lead by the 6:08 mark.
SU was able to cut the deficit to as little as five on two
occasions before the Marlins finished the half on a 13-4 run to
lead 47-30 at the break.
Kline, who had 14 points on 7 of 8 shooting from the floor, led
all players with 14 points in the first 20 minutes.
Wesleyan had seven different players find the score sheet in the
opening stanza with Stephen Fields' 12 pacing this group.
Shenandoah scored 12 of the first 16 points of the second half
to cut the deficit to nine, 51-42, with 15:38 remaining, but it
took until the final moments for things to get really interesting.
After trailing by at least eight points for most of the half, a
combination of poor foul shooting by the Marlins and a couple of
big shots by the Hornets brought SU to within six, 84-78, with 40
seconds left.
Unfortunately for coach Robert
Trent Harris, Jr.', his club missed a pair of free throws and a
three-point attempt in the next eight seconds and was not able cut
the deficit any further.
VWC then clinched the contest by making its final six attempts
from the charity stripe.
Kline led his squad with career-high 25 points while Kenny Robertson had
16 and Chris
Schrader 18.
Mitch
Dudley fouled out with eight points at the 1:15 mark.
Fields had 21 points for the victors with Donald Vaughn,
Chris Teasley and Travis Washington adding 15, 14 and 12,
respectively.
SU is back in action on Monday at 7:00 in a home non-league game
against Stevenson University.
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