WINCHESTER, Va. - Visiting Averett University used a dominant rebounding edge to down Shenandoah University 87-64 in USA South Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars (7-12, 2-5 USA South) salvaged a split of the season series by downing the Hornets (4-16, 2-5).

AU dominated on the glass, pulling down 47 rebounds to Shenandoah's 23, and outscored the Hornets 27-7 on second chance points.

Junior Marquis Scott did most of the damage - he had 38 points and 16 rebounds in the victory with 13 of his boards coming on the offensive end.

Scott's offensive output ties him for the second-best performance in school history.

The two teams traded the lead six times and were tied on six other occasions, but Averett held the lead for the final 13:04 of the contest.

Taking a 50-48 advantage on a Sunil Ram 3-pointer, AU reeled off 14 of the game's next 18 points to lead 64-52 with 9:03 remaining.

Shenandoah would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Trailing by that 10-point margin, SU saw its visitors pull away with a 13-3 run over a span of 4:20 that gave Averett a 20-point lead with 1:40 showing.

Both coaches then emptied their benches and the visitors scored the final three points of the game to provide the final margin.

Ram and Jeremy Ruffin each had 14 to back up Scott's 38.

Freshman Ross Heyl paced the hosts with 19 points. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 5 for 8 from behind the arc.

Avery Green had 16 points in 28 minutes.

Shenandoah is on the road on Tuesday in a 7:00 USA South Conference contest at Ferrum.

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