LEXINGTON, Va. — Lynchburg finished the first half on a 10-0 run, which propelled the Hornets to an 83-69 victory over the Washington and Lee men's basketball team on Sunday at the Warner Center.

First-year guard Devin Kearns (Cibolo, Texas/Samuel Clemens) made a layup off an assist from senior forward Andrew Franz (Charlotte, N.C./Ravenscroft) to give the Generals (7-5, 1-3 ODAC) a 28-27 lead with 2:58 left in opening stanza.  The Hornets (9-4, 2-2 ODAC) answered with 10 straight points to end the half. Junior guard Zack Burnett (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) tallied six points during the spurt, including a driving layup with three seconds on the clock to provide Lynchburg with a 37-28 lead at the break.

W&L scored the first five points of the second half off of three points from sophomore forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) and a layup by Franz to trim the deficit to four (37-33) at the 18:17 mark. Over the next three minutes, the Hornets outscored the Blue and White, 10-4, to stretch the lead to double digits (47-37).

LC extended the lead over the next four minutes and held a 14-point advantage, 56-42, with 12:45 left in the contest. Following a triple by junior guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) and a layup by Kearns, W&L trimmed the lead to nine, 56-47, with 11:39 on the clock. The Generals continued to slowly erode the advantage, and a jumper by Murtha with 6:50 left in the game brought the Blue and White to within six, 65-59.

Senior forward Alex Graves (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) responded with seven points on Lynchburg's next four possessions to regain a nine-point lead (72-63) with 4:24 left in the game. Lynchburg outscored the Generals, 11-6, over the final four minutes to reach the final margin.

Murtha led W&L with 20 points and nine rebounds. Kearns came off the bench to tally 17 points and four steals, and Kleinlein finished with 15 points.

Burnett notched a game-high 21 points on 8-of-16 from the field. Graves recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Lynchburg outscored W&L, 12-4, on second-chance points, and held a 21-14 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Generals next play at Bridgewater on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

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