WINCHESTER, Va. – Shenandoah University ran its record to 2-0 on the young season with a 75-71 non-league men's basketball victory over Penn College Tuesday evening.
The Hornets rallied from a nine-point deficit with 8:35 to play by scoring 24 of the game's final 35 points and rallying past Penn (0-2).
SU, which shot just 35 percent (13 of 37) in the first, made 56 percent (15 of 27) of its shots in the final 20 minutes to key the comeback victory.
The Wildcats shot 56 percent in the first half and 45 percent in the second.
Senior Kyle Murph got the rally started by hitting a 3-pointer, his only points of the game, with 8:16 left before Kelsey Thomas (13 points, 10 rebounds) hit back-to-back jumpers to cut the deficit to four at the 6:45 mark.
An Aaron Patterson 3-pointer 1:18 later made it 62-61 in Penn's favor, and after the 'Cats hit one of two from the line, Malcolm Clark had a layup that brought the game back to level at 63-63 with 4:31 showing.
Clark's bucket started an 11-2 spurt with E.J. Baltimore's fast break layup giving SU the lead for good with 3:39 to play.
Penn scored six of the game's final nine points, but it was too little, too late and Shenandoah had its second home victory in as many outings.
Clark led the victors with 15 points, Patterson had 14 and Thomas Walker 11 in addition to Thomas' first career double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Thomas Ross had 25 points for the visitors.
Coach Rob Pryor's men travel to Mary Washington this weekend for the South Region Challenge. SU faces host UMW as well as former USA South rival N.C. Wesleyan in the classic format tournament.
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