CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The Shenandoah University men's basketball team earned a 68-61 non-league victory over Washington (Md.) College in the season opener Tuesday night for both schools.

The win for Shenandoah (1-0) is the Hornets fourth season-opening victory in the past five years and comes in the first-ever meeting between SU and the Shoremen (0-1) in men's basketball.

The Hornets needed to rally Tuesday night as WC used an 11-3 run in the middle of the first half to take a 22-13 lead with 6:47 to play in that opening stanza.

The Sho'men eventually expanded the lead to 11, 28-17, with 2:35 left before Shenandoah started its comeback.

Derrick Perry began a 9-5 SU run to finish the first with a jumper at 2:25. Perry had seven of the nine points in the spurt, including a fast break dunk with four seconds left to make the score 30-26 in favor of the hosts.

Washington held its lead for the initial five minutes of the second before Perry tied the contest on a three-point play with 14:58 remaining.

The two teams traded buckets in the next 90 seconds before Kaimonne Douglas gave Shenandoah the lead for good on a jumper with 13:15 left.

Douglas bucket started a 6-0 spurt for the Hornets that effectively sealed the win.

Washington would cut the deficit to one point on two occasions, the last with 4:54 left, but coach Rob Pryor's club had an answer each time.

The Hornets led by at least four points for the final 4:15 and had a nine-point lead with 1:17 remaining.

Douglas, Perry and Malcolm Clark all had 16 points in the win with Douglas hitting 12 of his 13 free throw attempts.

SU shot 46 percent (23 of 50) to 36 percent for the Shoremen (22 of 62) and help make up for a 38-33 rebounding deficit.

Shenandoah opens up its home slate Friday night at 8 p.m. in the first-ever Body Renew Classic. The Hornets face Wilson in that 8 p.m. game following the Averett versus Hood game at 6.

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