BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Bridgewater College sophomore Ed Reddick banked in a runner from six-feet out with 1.6 seconds left on the clock Saturday afternoon to lift the Eagles to a 75-73 victory over Roanoke College in ODAC men's basketball action.
The Eagles led by six points, 72-66 when Tavis Stapleton scored on a driving layup with 1:07 left.
Reddick then came up with a steal, but the Eagles were unable to put the game away.
The Eagles had possession with the six-point lead with 50 seconds left, but Bridgewater turned the ball over on an inbounds play. Roanoke's Kwasi Amponsah missed a jumper, but Julian Ramirez grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. Ramirez hit both free throws to pull the Maroons to within four, 72-68, with 40 seconds left.
The Maroons then sent Reddick to the foul line and he missed both shots. Roanoke's Daniel Eacho hit a short jumper from the baseline and the Maroons trailed by just two, 72-70, with 24 seconds remaining.
Roanoke fouled Zach Hunter and the Bridgewater freshman hit just 1-of-2 to keep it a one-possession game. Amponsah then buried a long 3-pointer from the right side to tie the score, 73-73, with 16 seconds left.
The Eagles called timeout with 8.6 seconds left and the ball was put into Reddick's hands with the game clock ticking toward zero. Reddick drove from the left wing and banked in his runner with 1.6 seconds left for the winning points. Ramirez launched a desperation heave from well beyond midcourt that came up short as the Eagles escaped with the 75-73 victory.
Roanoke controlled play early in the contest and led by eight, 21-13, with 9:45 left in the half.
A layup by Amponsah gave the Maroons a 28-22 lead, but the Eagles scored the next 12 points to grab the upper hand. Reddick and Stapleton converted back-to-back three-point plays to tie the score at 28-28 with 5:10 left in the half. Zach Hunter converted a steal into an easy layup and Aaron Adams added a pair of buckets to put the Eagles on top 34-28 with 3:33 remaining in the half.
Amponsah broke the Roanoke scoring drought with a short jumper, but Kyle Welty answered with a driving layup to keep the Eagles up by six, 36-30.
Amponsah connected on 1-of-2 at the foul line and Cameron Smith hit a 12-foot baseline jumper at the buzzer to pull the Maroons to within three, 36-33, at the break.
Roanoke opened up a nine-point, 59-50, lead midway through the second half, but the Eagles wiped out the deficit with a 12-2 run.
Layups by Matthew Hunter and Kordero Thompson sliced the margin to five before a layup by David Larson trimmed the deficit to three, 59-56. A steal and layup by Zach Hunter made it a one-point game before Roanoke's Andrew Daniels temporarily halted the Eagles run with a jumper. Reddick hit 1-of-2 foul shots and, following a Roanoke turnover, Stapleton hit a long 3-pointer to put Bridgewater on top, 62-61. with 6:42 left.
Daniels tied the score with a free throw before Reddick hit two straight from the foul line for a 64-62 Bridgewate lead with 4:24 left.
Roanoke held the lead one last time when Daniels connected from bonus range, giving the Maroons a 65-64 edge. Thompson responded with a pair of free throws for a 66-65 Bridgewater lead with 3:05 left.
After Amponsah missed two foul shots, Adams hit a baseline jumper for a three-point Bridgewater lead at the 2:36 mark. Daniels hit 1-of-2 at the line for the Maroons, but Daniel McClain hit a key 17-footer with 1:33 left on the clock, giving the Eagles a 70-66 lead.
Stapleton then added his layup with 1:07 left, setting up the frantic final minute of action.
Stapleton paced five Eagles in double figures with 15 points and Reddick scored 14. Zach Hunter and Adams each netted 12 and Matt Hunter pitched in with 10.
Amponsah and Daniels each poured in 20 points to lead the Maroons. Eacho scored 14 points and led Roanoke's domination of the boards with 13 rebounds. Ramirez finished the contest with 10 points.
Roanoke shot 50.0 percent from the floor and dominated the glass by a 43-26 margin. The Maroons, however, failed to take care of the basketball, turning the ball over 26 times compared to just nine turnovers by the Eagles.
The Eagles evened their conference record at 6-6 and improved to 12-9 overall. Roanoke is now 8-13 overall and 1-11 in the ODAC.
Bridgewater returns to action Wednesday evening when the Eagles travel to Winchester to play Shenandoah. Game time is 7:00 p.m.