LEXINGTON, Va. - The Shenandoah University men's basketball team returned to action Wednesday evening with a 110-54 non-league loss to Virginia Military Institute.

The loss to the DI Keydets (5-7) completes the non-league portion of the schedule for SU (3-9).

The out-of-division contest is the first official game for Shenandoah against a higher division opponent since a 72-44 loss at William & Mary on December 16, 2010.

The Hornets also played DI Radford and DII West Virginia Wesleyan in exhibitions prior to the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, respectively.

VMI led the entire 40 minutes Wednesday night, scoring the first eight points of the contest and 14 of the initial 20.

The lead, thanks to a 29-1 run over a span of 7:32, expanded to 35 points by the 7:00 mark of the first.

Trailing 43-8, SU outscored its hosts 20-18 in the final 5:38 of the opening stanza to find itself in a 61-28 hole at the break.

The two teams played the initial 8:26 of the second half virtually even, with the Keydets scoring 21 of the first 40 points of the half, before VMI pulled away with a 16-4 run from the 10:31 to 5:31 marks of the second.

The hosts then finished the game on a 12-2 run.

Jared Carithers paced the Hornets with 22 points while Dante Serale added 11 points and Shaquille Rodney 10.

Shenandoah hosts nationally ranked Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday in a 2:00 ODAC contest.

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