WINCHESTER, Va. – Visiting Virginia Wesleyan outlasted Shenandoah University Wednesday evening in a 71-55 ODAC men's basketball victory over the Hornets.
Shenandoah (3-13, 0-7 ODAC) led early, but could not hold off the aggressive Marlins (13-4, 5-4) over the final 25 minutes of the contest.
IN BRIEF
Coaching against his mentor, Dave Macedo, SU first year head coach
Nick Doyle had his Hornets up five at the 15-minute mark and still with a four-point lead following a
Landon Russ 3-pointer at 10:37.
Russ' '3', one of five that Shenandoah hit on the night, caused Macado to burn his second timeout of the half.
The 30-second break seemed to reset the Marlins, who then proceeded to score 15 of the game's next 23 points and seize a 27-22 lead with 5:01 remaining. The two teams traded the lead three times and were tied on two additional occasions during this time period with VWU taking the lead for good on a pair of Jordan Crump free throws at 6:54.
Shenandoah, which found itself down nine, 35-26 with 1:22 left, scored the final five points of the half to trail by four, 35-31, at the break.
Unfortunately for the home crowd, this would prove to be the Hornets high-water mark for the remainder of the contest. Virginia Wesleyan opened the second half on a 10-4 run and after taking its initial double-digit lead with 15:34 to play, did not let its advantage slip below seven points the rest of the way.
First-year
Joshua Stephen led Doyle's club with 16 points off the bench while
Malik Jordan added 15.
The Hornets shot 42 percent (21 of 50) for the contest to the Marlins' 41 percent (23 of 56), with VWU also grabbing 35 of the game's 69 rebounds.
UP NEXT
Shenandoah takes to the road Saturday for a 2 p.m. ODAC game in the Hill City versus Randolph College.
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