HARRISONBURG, Va. - Host Eastern Mennonite used a big first half run to key a 71-53 ODAC men's basketball victory over Shenandoah Wednesday evening.

The Royals (13-5, 6-3 ODAC) outscored Shenandoah 14-1 from the 7:22 to :13 second marks of the first to seize control of the contest.

Prior to this run, SU (2-16, 1-8) and EMU had traded the lead three times and were tied on five other occasions.

Sophomore Nik Stewart finally stopped this run by converting a three-point play eight seconds prior to halftime, but Eastern Mennonite had a lead it would not relinquish.

An 18-7 Shenandoah run to start the second, which was finished off with a Malcolm Clark fastbreak layup with 10:17 remaining, brought the Hornets to within two at 43-41.

EJ Baltimore answered with a 3-pointer 18 seconds later, starting a 12-0 EMU run and putting the contest out of reach.

The Hornets would get no closer than 11 points in the final eight minutes of the contest.

Clark paced SU with 18 points while Stewart added 13 and Aaron Patterson 11.

Xavier Alston was one bucket shy of a double-double; he had eight points and 12 rebounds.

Marcel Crump had 17 points and David Falk 16 with a game-high 15 rebounds for the hosts.

Eastern Mennonite shot 48 percent to an even 30 percent for the Hornets.

Shenandoah continues this road trip on Saturday with a 2:00 contest at Randolph.

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