WINCHESTER, Va. - Shenandoah University earned its second straight men's basketball victory of the 2010-11 season Saturday afternoon with a 71-66 USA South Conference win over Averett.

Shenandoah (3-11, 1-2 USA South) emerged on top of the see-saw battle with a strong finish against Averett (2-15, 0-4).

With AU leading by seven, 52-45, following a Kenny Hart jumper with 8:27 remaining, SU retook the lead for good by scoring the next 12 points over a span of 2:42.

Freshman Avery Green got the run started with a fastbreak layup at 7:43 and 88 seconds later, thanks to a Corey Levenberry steal and layup, the Hornets had the lead for good.

Matt Thompson and Levenberry capped the run off with buckets at 5:22 and 5:01, respectively, before Hart finally stopped the bleeding by hitting a 3-pointer with 4:16 remaining.

This would be as close as the Cougars would get, however, as Shenandoah reeled off 10 of the game's next 12 points to push the lead back into double-digits by the 54-second mark.

SU then finished off Averett by making four of its final six shots from the line.

The 12-0 run ended a string in which the two teams traded the lead 12 times and were tied on four other occasions.

Senior Mitch Dudley paced the victores with 17 points while Green had a career-high 17 and Brandon Bryan 11.

Hart had a game-high 23 for the Cougars.

AU won the battle of the glass 49-32 and scored 13 second-chance points to the Hornets 2.

Shenandoah is back in action on Wednesday at 7:30 against No. 22 Ferrum.