BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Bridgewater College scored the first seven points of the game Saturday afternoon and the Eagles never trailed in a 71-62 victory over the Emory & Henry College Wasps.
With the victory the Eagles evened their conference record at 1-1 and improved to 4-2 overall. E&H dropped to 0-5 overall, 0-2 in the ODAC.
Tavis Stapleton knocked down a 15-footer on the game's first possession and the junior guard added a 3-pointer on his next trip to the offensive end, giving Bridgewater a quick 5-0 lead.
Ronnie Thomas hit a jumper to make it 7-0 before the Wasps finally got on the board on a 3-pointer by Myles Turner to cut the lead to 7-3.
The Eagles pushed the margin to 10 points, 16-6, when Ed Reddick worked the paint and converted a three-point play with 14:02 left in the half.
Matthew Hunter drove past his defender for a layup to up the lead to 12 before a layup by the Wasps' Charles Smith made the score 18-8. Bryan Lynch then drained a long 3-pointer, giving the Eagles s 13-point lead, 21-8, with 11:50 left on the clock.
Emory & Henry closed the margin to four before an 11-1 run gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the half.
After Emory & Henry's Jorel Terrell' jumper pulled the Wasps to within 24-20 the Eagles regained control. Daniel McClain hit a short jumper the Eagles hit 2-of-4 from the line to lead 28-20.
Charles Smith made 1-of-2 from the line for the Wasps before Thomas scored on a driving layup, giving the Eagles a 30-21 lead. Thomas added a 3-pointer and Ed Reddick drove the lane for a layup, giving the Eagles their largest lead of the half, 35-21, with 1:38 left on the first-half clock.
The Wasps scored the final four points of the half, capped by Smith's short jumper just before the horn, to shave the Bridgewater lead to 35-25 at the break.
The Eagles dominated play to start the second half, outscoring the Wasps 16-4 to open up a 22 –point lead.
The teams traded two hoops each to start the second half and then the Eagles reeled off 12 unanswered points. Stapleton started the run with a jumper and Reddick added a pair of inside buckets to put the Eagles on top 45-29. Thomas sandwiched a pair of hoops around another jumper by Stapleton to put the Eagles on top 51-29 with 13:30 left.
The Eagles still led by 22 points, 59-37, when Reddick scored on a layup, but the Wasps scored nine consecutive points to trim the deficit to 13 with 7:05 left to play.
The Wasps kept chipping away at the margin and pulled to within seven, 61-54, when Turner made 1-of-2 at the line with 3:15 still left. Stapleton then hit the biggest shot of the game when he knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 10, 64-54, with 2:53 left in the game.
A jumper by Turner cut the lead to 66-59 with 1:08 left, but Thomas stepped to the line and calmly sank two foul shots with 49 seconds left to push the lead back to nine, 66-59. The Eagles hit 3-of-4 foul shots in the final 38 seconds to close out the 71-62 victory.
The Eagles placed three players in double figures, led by Reddick's 19 points. Reddick just missed a double-double as he also had a team-high nine rebounds. Thomas finished with 17 points and seven boards while Stapleton scored 14 points.
Turner led the Wasps with 18 points and Armando Murrell added 14.