HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. – Tenth-seeded Shenandoah University saw its men's basketball season come to an end Monday night with an 86-71 loss to seventh-seeded Hampden-Sydney in an ODAC Tournament first round contest.
 
The Tigers (14-10) advance to Thursday's quarterfinal round at the Salem Civic Center. H-SC faces second-seeded Guilford in that 6 p.m. contest.
 
IN BRIEF
Meeting for the second time in three days and for the third time this season, Shenandoah (4-22) was looking to reverse the result of the two regular season contests.
 
For the opening seven minutes, the Hornets were on track to accomplish that goal – SU held a 16-8 lead following a Deondre McNeill 3-pointer with 13:12 remaining in the opening half.
 
Unfortunately for the SU faithful, H-SC had an answer. The Tigers scored the game's next 11 points in the next 4:22 to turn that eight-point deficit into a three-point (19-16) lead.
 
The two teams would stay within one possession of each other and were tied at 22-22, 24-24, and 25-25 before Hampden-Sydney went on a run that gave itself the lead for good.
 
With the score tied at 25-25, H-SC scored seven straight points and nine of the game's next 11 to push its advantage out to 34=27 with 3:53 remaining. The Tigers lead reached 12 before Jaylen Williams' bucket two seconds before the end of the half made it a 10-point, 44-34 lead for the hosts.
 
Shenandoah was able to cut the deficit into single digits on two occasions in the second half only to see H-SC pull away with another spurt. This one 12-2, gave the Tigers an 18-point advantage by the 15:17 mark.
 
Hampden-Sydney eventually expanded its lead out to 23 points by the 9:47 mark. SU had a 25-17 run over the last 9:28 to provide the final margin.
 
Williams led the visitors with 22 points while McNeill added 13.
 
The Hornets shot 43 percent (26-of-60) from the field to 46 percent (28-of-61) for the Tigers. H-SC pulled down 43 of the game's 70 rebounds.
 
UP NEXT
Shenandoah will announce its 2022-23 schedule in late spring.
 
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