LEXINGTON, Va. — The Washington and Lee men's basketball team's starting backcourt of junior guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) and first-year guard Devin Kearns (Cibolo, Texas/Samuel Clemens) combined to score 40 points to lead the Generals to a 77-66 victory over Shenandoah at the Warner Center on Wednesday night.

The Generals (10-6, 3-4 ODAC) held a 35-33 lead at intermission and then quickly extended the advantage to seven (43-36) in the first two minutes of the second half. The Hornets (3-13, 0-7 ODAC) responded with an 8-2 run capped on a layup by junior guard Malcolm Clark (Washington, D.C./Cesar Chavez) to close to within one, 45-44, with 13:27 left in the contest.

Shenandoah took the lead (50-49) three minutes later on a triple by Clark. With the score tied, 53-53, Kearns scored five straight points to put the Generals up 58-53 with 7:21 remaining on the clock. The Hornets then trimmed the margin to one, 58-57, on a layup by Clark with 4:51 left in the game.

The Generals answered with eight straight points to put the game away. Kleinlein started the rally with a triple. Senior Andrew Franz (Charlotte, N.C./Ravenscroft) netted two free throws, and then first-year forward Roy McMillan (Raleigh, N.C./Broughton) split a pair at the charity stripe. Sophomore forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) finished the spurt with a layup to push the W&L lead to 66-57 with 2:41 left in the game.

The Blue and White extended the advantage to 15 (74-59) on a layup by Kearns with 1:07 left in the game. Shenandoah scored seven points in the final 46 seconds to reach the final margin.

Kleinlein finished the game 5-of-8 from long distance for 21 points. Kearns netted 19 points and had six rebounds. Murtha notched 13 points and seven rebounds. McMillan recorded 11 points off the bench. Franz did a little bit of everything with six points, six assists and nine rebounds.

Clark registered a game-high 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Senior guard Antwan Pittman (Washington, D.C./Ballou) added 12 points and four rebounds.

Shenandoah totaled 10 offensive rebounds, which led to 17 second-chance points. The Blue and White shot 50.0 percent (24-of-48) from the floor and 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from beyond the arc.

The Generals return to action on Sunday, when they host Randolph-Macon at 4:30 pm.

-- www.generalssports.com --