Shenandoah (4-1) won the battle of the northern Shenandoah Valley “SU’s” by shooting 16 for 37 (43.2 percent) in the second half to pull away from the Rams (2-4). They also outrebounded the much bigger Shepherd ballclub 43-34, including 28-14 in the second.
Senior Chris Rhone (Washington, D.C./Northwestern) led the charge with 16 of his game-high 25 points after the break; classmate Kenny Purnell (Baltimore, Md./Lake Clifton) backed him up by adding 12 of his 16 as Shenandoah got the upset win.
Even though the Hornets won by 17, the game was close throughout until the Hornets completed the game with an 18-3 run over the final 4:05. After Danley Shank brought the hosts to within two at 67-65 on a jumper at the 4:05 mark, Shenandoah scored nine of the game’s next 12 points to put Shepherd into a position in which they had to foul.
The Hornets made 7 of 8 shots from the charity stripe in the final 85 seconds and got all four rebounds on the defensive end of the floor to seal the victory.
In addition to Rhone’s 25 and Purnell’s 16, sophomore Onyie Onunaku posted new career highs with 21 points and 19 rebounds. Darren Stackhouse led the Rams with 17 points and 10 boards.
Thanks to some sound parameter first-half shooting, Shenandoah led by as many as 10 after senior Chris Jenkins (Bristow, Va./Nokesville) gave his club a 42-32 lead with a three-pointer at the 3:02 mark. Unfortunately for the visitors, Shepherd answered that Hornets run with a 14-0 spurt that sandwiched the halftime intermission. The final three points during the first-half portion of that run came when Stackhouse calmly drained three free throws with 0.1 showing as he was fouled on a shot attempt 25 feet from the basket.
SU shot 16 for 31(51.6 percent) in the first and got 13 points from Onunaku to lead all scorers. He also had a half high seven boards; Shepherd grabbed 20 of the 35 rebounds in the half.
Box Score/Play by Play
Shenandoah plays the second of three straight out-of-division games Saturday as it travels to Division I Liberty University for a 7:00 contest.