VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The No. 25 ranked Shenandoah Hornets hit the road for a hard-fought conference matchup with the 18th-ranked Virginia Wesleyan Marlins. The Hornets took a 31-28 lead into the half in a back-and-forth contest, but the Marlins used their experience in high-level competition to pull away from Shenandoah in the second half. The Hornets dropped their first game of the season by a final score of 70-58 to fall to 12-1 and 3-1 in the conference.
Jaylen Williams led all scorers with 21 points going 8-19 from the floor. Binwi Bahai,
Evan Makle, and
Cade McCulloch all had eight points in the game, with
Joshua Stephen contributing six points. The Hornets shot 33.9% going 22-59 from the floor and 26.9% from deep.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In an anticipated conference game of two ranked teams, the Hornets and Marlins got off to slow start early in the first half as both teams were figuring out the respective matchups. Finally,
Jaylen Williams broke through for the Hornets, giving Shenandoah an early 2-0 lead two minutes into the game. As each team exchanged baskets, it was
Evan Makle drilled a three to give Shenandoah the 7-4 lead with 16:08 left on the clock in the half. After the Marlins missed a three to answer,
Jaylen Williams would race down the court to extend the Hornets lead to 9-4. However, VWU would go on a 4-0 run to pull the home team to within one point at 9-8 with 13:46 on the clock.
Joshua Stephen entered the game, helped cause a turnover, and then made a three to put the Hornets back up by four at 12-8. The Marlins would use another 6-0 run to regain the lead, until
Davion Roberts hit a mid-range jumper to tie it. The game was back-and-forth as
Evan Makle hit his second triple with 6:14 remaining in the half. With just under five minutes to go in the half,
Cade McCulloch drilled a three to pull the Hornets back to within one point, 21-20. Just under two minutes later, McCulloch drained his second triple of the contest and Shenandoah took the lead 23-21. Baskets from Binwi Bahai and
Jaylen Williams put the Hornets up 29-28 with time running down in the half. Bahai slammed the ball down with seconds remaining in the half, and the Hornets took a 31-28 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Marlins hit a three 30 seconds into the half to tie the game at 31.
Jaylen Williams scored the first points for the Hornets with just under 14 minutes to play in the game, to cut the Marlin lead down to eight. Virginia Wesleyan used a 17-2 to run to open the half and start to pull away from Shenandoah.
Jaylen Williams scored the first 14 points for Shenandoah, cutting the lead to 54-44 with just under eight minutes to play but every time the Hornets tried to claw their way back in, the Marlins had an answer.
Nic Pullum and Binwi Bahai converted on free throws to cut the lead back to 12 at 59-47 before Bahai slammed down another dunk. With time running out in the half, Samuel Daily nailed a corner three and that was the last basket the Hornets scored.
UP NEXT
The Hornets return home for a conference matchup on Friday with the University of Lynchburg, a game that was originally scheduled for Saturday, but moved due to a snowstorm coming through.
#GoSUHornets
